Desperate Darkness
by Aina Song
Summary: This YYH/WR will eventually cross over into the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! as well, but I was only allowed to list two categories. See story for summary.
1. Still Alive?

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter One - Still Alive?**

He awoke to a soft yet insistent tapping upon the window glass. Slitting his eyes open, Kurama let a slow smile cross his mouth as he found a familiar shadow outside his window. Briefly closing his eyes with a sudden yawn, he lazily stretched his limbs as far as they would go before sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of his bed. But then he gave a curious frown, lifting his eyes again to his window.

It seemed tonight his guest had brought something with him. Mingling with his mate's scent wafted in another, most distinctive scent that drew upon his every caution. Never minding his own nudity, he approached the window, placing his hands under its wooden frame and tugging upward. The window opened further at his urging, and twin garnet eyes silently watched him from the other side.

Now that he was closer, the second scent had grown thicker and less deniable. Kurama met his mate's gaze. "Were you the hunter, or the hunted?"

Those fiery eyes narrowed, "You know the blood is not mine, fox. I was not involved in this."

"What happened, Hiei?"

"You'll have all the time to solve that riddle later." The koorime grabbed Kurama's wrist and tugged, "Come with me."

"Wait a minute," he frowned, freeing his arm and turning away. "Allow me a moment to dress."

Hiei growled impatiently, swinging one leg over the ledge of the open window to better anchor himself. "We have no time for this," he groused, watching as Kurama swiftly pulled on a pair of pants. "Can you not smell the kind of blood on me?"

"Yes," Kurama answered, finding a relatively clean shirt and tugging it on. "But I see no reason to rush into this."

"Damn it, fox," the fire demon growled. "Recognize whose blood this is!"

Hearing the hint of desperation in his mate's tone, Kurama left off searching for his shoes and finally returned to the window. Swiping his fingers along the front of Hiei's cloak, he brought his hand up to his nose and inhaled deeply. He frowned, something untold causing his heart to jump at the familiarity of the scent in his hand.

"Hiei…?"

The fire demon did not answer, those hard red eyes never relinquishing their stare.

Ignoring a sudden clenching of his stomach, Kurama fisted his blood-stained hand and took a careful breath to reclaim his calm. Hiei rejoined his leg with its twin and caught his own hand to the window's open frame as he swung back away from the window itself. Wordlessly, he offered his other hand to his red-haired mate. Swallowing, Kurama nodded and clasped those fingers in his own, ducking his head as he at last climbed out through his own window.

"Take me to him."

~o~

Kurama's eyebrows came together with great alarm as he sank to his knee in the slowly spreading pool of blood. Hesitantly, he reached with his hand and lightly brushed his fingers over a blood-and-dirt matted mass of otherwise beautiful russet-colored fur. A thickness lodged itself in his throat. "Hiei," he cloaked. "He's…"

"No," the fire demon shook his head. "The blood is still warm. Still flowing." He grabbed his red-haired mate's hand and gently pressed Kurama's palm deeper into the matted fur. "Feel for yourself."

Kurama cringed as the wetness pooled slowly about his fingers. But then his eyes widened as he realized what that meant, and sudden and unbidden tears burned down his cheek. "His heart is still beating…?"

"Yes."

Kurama quickly looked up, "Can we help him?"

"Take him to Urameshi," the fiery-eyed demon gave a brief nod, feigning calm for his mate's sake. "His home is closest. Clean him up as best you can. I'll go to Yukina and ask her aid."

Nodding, Kurama grimly ignored the blood as he slipped his hands under the bundle of fur and lifted it up against his chest. Several minutes later, he was using the heel of his foot to knock upon the balcony door of a familiar apartment. He waited out the excruciatingly long few seconds for his entreaty to be answered, and the balcony door slid open.

Yusuke Urameshi stared as his eyes took in a bare-footed Kurama in blood-coated clothes and cradling in his arms a gaunt-looking animal that appeared to have seen better days. "Kurama, what the hell-?"

"Let me in, Yusuke; please. Time is running short."

The dark youth swiftly stepped aside. Kurama came into the apartment, turning as Yusuke closed the balcony door behind him. "May I borrow your bathroom? I need to clean him if I'm to find the wound, and I doubt you wish his blood on your carpet or the kitchen floor."

"Y-yeah, go ahead."

Minutes later, he looked up as Yusuke joined him in the bathroom with an armful of towels and old rags. Kurama offered a shaky smile in gratitude as the dark youth dampened two rags under the sink faucet and passed one over.

Yusuke knelt beside the redhead before the bottom of his own shower's stall, allowing himself a moment to take in what lay in front of him before joining his friend in cleaning the blood away. "Don't think I've ever seen a dog this bad…"

"He's not a dog," Kurama softly corrected, most of his focus on the task at hand. "He's a wolf."

"A wolf?" Yusuke studied the animal's paws and muzzle, "Where the hell did it come from?"

"_He_," the redhead automatically corrected. "And I'm not certain where he's been most recently, but I dare to guess that his first home was Demon World."

"What? A _demon_ wolf?"

"Yes." Kurama lifted one foreleg away from the body, carefully cleansing the beast's chest and stomach. Yet it seemed even unconsciousness could not halt the flinch of pain that jarred the wolf's entire body. Frowning, the redhead lifted his rag away, but he very quickly replaced it to halt a fresh spill of blood. "I believe I've found the wound…"

"You sure?" Yusuke asked, leaning up on his knees to carefully examine a discovery of his own. "Looks like a lot of the blood clotted around the back of his shoulder, here, too."

"Another one?"

"Wait." The dark youth frowned, eyeing the wound he had found. Very carefully, he set his fingers to the area around Kurama's rag, lightly feeling about and detecting tenderized skin under all that fur. It was not all that difficult for him to make a connection. "Ah, hell…"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry," he immediately apologized, every sincerity in his gaze as he looked up again. "It's a puncture wound."

Kurama's eyebrows came together. "Stabbed?"

"No," Yusuke shook his head, lifting away the smallest corner of Kurama's rag to show the shape and form of the first wound. Then he demonstrated with his first two fingers how that wound lined up with the other. "He was shot. From pretty close range, too. The bullet went clean through him."

"Oh, my!"

They both turned, finding both Hiei and his sister Yukina in the open doorway. Yukina's delicate hands had clasped together before her heart, and her wine-red eyes were round with concern. She quickly offered a polite bow in greeting, "Forgive us for not knocking. But Hiei insisted this to be an emergency."

"It is," Kurama assured, while Yusuke stood away from the shower's stall to allow her room. "Please, can you heal him?"

"I think so," she replied, coming to her own knees in the spot Yusuke had vacated. "Might you know his exact breed?"

"How will that help?" Yusuke wondered.

"Demons come in hundreds of breeds, and thousands of breed-combinations," Yukina patiently reminded. "That makes for an infinite number of body chemistry possibilities, and just as many risks a healer must strive to avoid. What works miracles for one demon could just as easily prove fatal for another." She returned her attention to the redhead, "Kurama?"

Sighing, the redhead pushed to his feet. "He was born to a female hybrid - half wolf, half nymph. His father… is a pure-bred silver youko." Then, without another word, he turned and left the bathroom.

"Fox," Hiei gruffly called, swiftly following.

Yusuke stared after his two best friends, unknowing as to what could have upset the both of them this way. Glancing down to see that Yukina was already cautiously working a rag free of the wound on the wolf's chest, the dark youth clenched his jaw and left in search of the other two.

He found them in his living room. Kurama was standing by the tall glass doors that led to the apartment's balcony, staring out toward a starless night sky. Hiei had come up behind his mate and had circled his arms around Kurama's waist from behind, his cheek pressed against Kurama's back. They both looked so somber and silent, that Yusuke knew immediately that he had walked in on what had obviously been a private moment. He turned to leave.

"Yusuke," Kurama softly spoke, stalling him. The dark youth turned back, but Kurama's eyes continued to gaze up toward the darkened skies outside as he drew in another breath. "Thank you. If you had not discovered that the wounds were from the same bullet, Yukina may have had to lose precious seconds determining that for herself. If he survives, it will be due to your insight."

Hiei's growl was oddly gentle. "Don't, fox. He will _not_ die."

His red-haired mate gave a single nod, though in his eyes there still lingered an uncertainty.

"Stop me if it isn't my place to ask," Yusuke hesitantly began. "But… Here I am, watching my two closest friends try to comfort each other, and I can't help but wonder what I'm missing."

Hiei pulled his mate closer, "The pain is his, more than it is mine."

"Yeah," he shrugged uneasily. "But even I know when you're hiding more than you're lettin' on."

"Yusuke," Kurama finally spoke again. "The young wolf in the other room… He is my son."

"What?"

The redhead at last turned his gaze away from the world outside, stepping out of Hiei's embrace and choosing instead to sit upon the sofa. The fire demon was there in an instant, straddling Kurama's lap and resting his brow against his mate's chest. Kurama's absently held him close, fingers sweeping back and forth across the back of Hiei's neck. He looked up again as Yusuke stepped curiously further into the room. "You know that I was a thief," the redhead sighed. "Notorious in nearly every region of Demon World. You could also say that I was somewhat of a rogue, even among my own kind. For though the youko clans loved frequently and freely, I myself had very little opportunity for such impulses. Hiei is my mate, of course, but before him I had only ever taken two lovers."**(1)**

"_You_? But your reputation…?"

"Able even to break the heart of a stone," Hiei could be heard to say, with something that sounded dangerously close to a dark snicker.

Kurama's mouth tilted in an equally somber smirk. "Rumors, I'm afraid. One glimpse of your silver silhouette flitting about in the night, and they can't stop talking about you." He waved that turn of the conversation away, returning to the subject at hand. "As a thief, I guarded my feelings carefully, and did not share them lightly. In fact, my first lover was my long-ago partner, Kuronue."

"Kuronue?" Yusuke interrupted, the hint of a challenge edging his slow smirk. "Not Yomi?"

The redhead did not suppress a shudder. "Gods, no. That man was too reckless, even then. No, Kuronue was before Yomi, and our trysts ended as suddenly as his life. Witnessing his death had been enough to make me want to swear off thoughts of love and romance forever. I'm afraid such a decision made me a cold companion for Yomi - though I can't bring myself to regret that. It were many centuries before I had met someone that finally managed to change my mind."

"Vi," Hiei murmured.

Kurama's mouth tugged in a truer smile this time, though the sadness lingered in his eyes. "Yes. So beautiful. That was the nymph in her. Yet it was the timidity of her wolf's blood that intrigued me. It was not long before I understood that I had fallen for her, and I knew no joy like the day she revealed to me that she was carrying my child." He sighed, "You can imagine how it tore at me when she died bringing our cub into the world. She had not even the strength to name the boy, before the life fled from her eyes forever."

He grew very quiet, making the silence in the room all the more potent. After a long moment, Kurama drew in a slow breath. "I entrusted my cub to a human friend, an old human woman who was returning to her own home, and bade her watch over him until I could return. Vi's nymph-sisters had a right to her body, more than I did, and I couldn't _not_ return her to them." He sighed again, "I had meant to come back for my cub as swiftly as possible. But a man can never run from his past for long, before it catches up to him and hunts him down like a common stray-"

"Wait," Yusuke cut in, fierce brown eyes wide and staring. "You told me this part of the story before. This is how you were forced to hide in the human world."

"Yes," the redhead nodded. "And, while biding my time and renewing my strengths, I'd eventually convinced myself that it would be safer for my cub if I did _not_ return and bring my enemies to his door."

"OH!"

The timing of the sudden interruption was like breaking glass, and quickly the three rushed down the hall. Yet when they reached the bathroom doorway, a sight they did not expect caused them all to freeze.

Yukina was unharmed, sitting back on her knees and smiling. The young wolf had been cleansed, his wounds dressed and smelling strongly of some healing sealant. His head rested across Yukina's lap, and she was lightly smoothing her hand along the top of his head between the ears. "I'm sorry," she managed to utter sincerely around a small giggle. "I didn't mean to worry all of you."

"What happened," Hiei asked.

She lifted her other hand to her mouth, trying to stifle another giggle. "I seem to have taken him by surprise. He nearly attempted to bite me, until he realized that I was trying to help him."

Kurama came forward. "He's awake?"

In answer to his question, the wolf stirred and stared warily up at them all with eyes of golden amber mixed in with hints of orange. He did not growl, did not bare his teeth or even back away upon finding so many strange faces staring back at him. He simply remained unnaturally still, as though waiting to see their first move, before determining his own.

Kurama slowly sank to his knees upon the floor, letting his movements and his expression show that he meant no harm. He took a slow breath, striving for calm. "What's your name, young one?"

The wolf made no response but to narrow his eyes.

"I know you can understand me," the red-haired fox patiently revealed. "There is no need to pretend ignorance here. Tell us your name."

Those eyes shifted about to the others in the room, and back again. And then, softly but clearly, _Toboe…_

"Toboe," Kurama echoed, offering a small smile though his heart twisted within his chest. The name was uttered by a voice that still sounded so very young. "My name is Kurama. The one who healed you is Yukina, and the two behind me are Yusuke and Hiei."

_What happened?_ The other quickly demanded, _Where am I? Where's Pops?_

"Pops?"

_A human. An old man._ Toboe finally lifted his head, meeting Kurama's stare directly. _I promised to protect him. But we were attacked, and then… Where is he?_

Guilt and sympathy filled Kurama's heart. "You were alone when we found you. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to your friend."

Those eyes grew wide, seconds before Toboe tore his gaze sharply away. He let his head sink once again to Yukina's lap, and tears spilled as he closed his eyes to the world around him. Yukina bit her lip, looking upon the young wolf with much compassion as she stroked her hand over his head like before. Toboe rolled his head a bit, just enough to let her massage behind his ear. There were even tears in his voice as he whispered, _I don't get it. We were dying. What happened? Where is he? And why am I still alive?_

1) Lovers vs. Mate - Virtually the same, but for one very important detail. An unmated demon can take on as many lovers as he desires, but will invariably only mark one as his mate.


	2. Behind Once Again

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Two - Behind Once Again**

"Hiei," Kurama whispered. "I don't think I approve…"

The fire demon's hands paused. Kurama and Yusuke were standing before Yusuke's bed, where it had been decided the young wolf would rest until he was well enough to move about on his own. Now Hiei, third eye exposed, was kneeling onto the bed's mattress and hovering his hands to either side of the wolf's head. He glanced up, "And why not? How else are we to know what has happened to him, or how he came to be in this city?"

"We could ask him," Yusuke pointed out.

Hiei huffed impatiently. "And on what grounds do you believe he would tell the truth?"

"Hiei," Kurama insisted. "Please. He is my son."

He gave the redhead a long look, before finally pulling his hands away and sitting back on his knee. "Fine," he muttered, closing his third eye and covering it once again. "Then what do you suggest we do, fox?"

Kurama offered his hand. "We let him rest, Hiei. Two things we do know - he's been hurt, and he could very well have lost a friend. Let his heart and mind come to terms with his body's survival. When he is ready to trust us, _then_ we'll ask him how he arrived here."

After another minute, the koorime accepted his mate's hand and let himself be pulled away from the bed. Yusuke leaned his back to a wall and sank to the floor. "I'll stay here," he offered. "I'm not that tired anymore. I'll let you know if something happens."

"Thank you, Yusuke," Kurama replied gratefully as they left the room.

Shifting his shoulders against the wall behind him, the dark youth rested his arm atop an upraised knee and got ready for a long night.

~o~

_Blue…_

Yusuke blinked his eyes open. Realizing he must have dozed off, he lifted his head to identify what it was that had roused him.

Across the room, hind legs kicking at the sheets on Yusuke's bed, the young wolf called Toboe shifted uneasily in his sleep. Sighing, Yusuke pushed to his feet and came closer. He watched quietly as Toboe flinched and bared his teeth in a fitful grimace. And the wolf, caught so deeply in his dream, was whispering in his sleep.

_I tried, Blue… I'm so sorry… I tried…_

Very carefully, Yusuke sat upon the mattress. He knew the danger of what he was about to do, and yet he did not halt his arm from reaching forth before the slumbering wolf's muzzle. Bracing himself, he shouted, "Toboe!"

In a blur of movement, the wolf awakened and defended himself against the first thing he saw. Which happened to be Yusuke's arm. The dark youth suppressed a flinch of great pain as young but strong fangs broke the skin of his forearm and sank in deep for a firm grip. Eyes that had not yet followed into wakefulness set their golden amber glare toward the sound of the door bursting open.

"Yusuke-!"

"Kurama, don't," he quickly hissed, still fighting the urge to jerk his arm back. "I'm okay…"

The redhead skidded to a halt, much worry in his eyes. The air grew tense as they waited, the pain now throbbing beyond Yusuke's elbow. Finally, clarity returned to those golden eyes and, with an uncertain canine whine, Toboe slowly slipped his fangs free of the flesh they had ensnared. The young wolf stared at Kurama across the room, at Yusuke with his now-bleeding arm, and terrible realization shook him from his daze.

Yusuke stared, and behind him he could hear Kurama gasp with surprise.

Where the wolf had been there was now a young teenage boy, pressed tightly against the wall and panting as though out of breath. He wore green military slacks with the legs tucked into swamp-brown army boots. His shirt was a solid red flannel with its sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, and it hung open to reveal a pale torso heavily bandaged to stanch the evidence of healing wounds. His build was somewhat small, showing that he was as much a runt of a human as he was a wolf.

But Yusuke's eyes were locked on the boy's face. If ever there had been any doubt about who had fathered this creature, it was immediately stamped out. A youko's haunting beauty was etched so finely into a face that was framed with coppery red strands that fell into those same golden eyes, which were now more orange than amber. But even a youko never looked so effeminate and… pure, even with Yusuke's blood staining the edges and lower lip of his mouth.

Kurama was the first to break from his shock, slowly stepping forward. "Toboe…?"

The boy did not answer right away. He lifted a hand to wipe at his mouth. Staring at the dark evidence on his palm, he raised his eyes to stare at Yusuke's arm. And he stammered, "I'm… I'm sorry. I-it was a reflex…"

Yusuke suddenly recalled himself, and he shook his head. "I'm fine; don't worry."

"But-"

"Believe me, I've had worse," he tried to assure the boy. "Anyway, I was countin' on it to happen."

Kurama, meanwhile, had finally entered the room and was busy tearing up an empty pillowcase. When he had done, he used its shreds to carefully wrap Yusuke's bleeding arm. It was a makeshift bandage, not one of Kurama's best, but it would do for now.

"You _wanted_ me to bite you?" The boy wondered, "Why?"

"I wanted you to _react_," Yusuke corrected, while Kurama used a larger scrap of the same material to sling his bandaged arm toward his chest. "And you did."

"But I hurt you."

"I'll get over it."

The boy grew quiet for a moment, before finally venturing, "_Why_ did you want me to react?"

"You were dreamin'," Yusuke shrugged. "And not very happy dreams, from the sound of it."

"They were haunting him," spoke another voice. All turned to find Hiei standing in the open doorway, something heavy in a large paper sack cradled in the crook of his arm. His clothes and hair were damp, revealing that it was raining outside.

Two of the three in the room understood immediately the meaning behind the fire demon's words, and Kurama frowned in disapproval. "Hiei…"

"I did not pry, fox," he was answered as the koorime stepped confidently into the room. "He was spilling over like broken glass."

Toboe was suddenly sniffing the air as Hiei drew closer, and his eyes locked on the paper sack. The barest smirk crossed Hiei's mouth as he dropped the sack upon the bed. But, though his every muscle bunched together as though ready to pounce, the boy did not move. He stared fixedly at the sack, the tiniest whine escaping his throat. It seemed even Hiei was surprised that his parcel had not been ravaged by now; he upended the sack and let its spoils roll along the sheets toward the boy's legs.

It was meat. Raw, untainted meat, still glistening wet with savory juices. Realization filled Kurama's eyes, and he smiled. Yusuke did not care that his sheets were now ruined, his fierce brown gaze watching the boy for any reaction to what was being offered.

Swallowing, Toboe tore his eyes away and stared at the fire demon. "F-for me?"

Hiei nodded.

The boy began to reach for the meat, but at the last instant pulled his hand back.

"What's wrong," Kurama wondered. "You must be hungry."

Toboe nodded, seeming to fight the urge to reach for the meat again. The redhead exchanged a glance with his fiery-eyed mate. But it was Yusuke that suddenly realized what it was the boy was waiting for. "Hiei," he muttered. "He's waitin' for you to eat first."

The fire demon gave him a sharp look, the vaguest hint of a question in his hesitation. Still standing to Yusuke's side, Kurama did not hide his own curiosity.

"He's a wolf," the dark youth reminded them. "And this would count as Hiei's kill."

"Of course," Kurama sighed, relief in his slow smile.

Under Toboe's watchful eyes, Hiei pulled himself onto his knees upon the bed and tore a chunk from the sizeable mound of meat. His handful dripped its juices onto the sheets as he brought it up to his mouth and bit off a piece. He began chewing. Toboe nodded, but then looked expectantly at the other two. So Kurama ripped off a chunk and passed it to Yusuke before doing so again for himself and taking a bite.

The two older demons had lived a handful of centuries each, and had experience in hunting to survive. But, though a demon himself, this was Yusuke's first taste of raw meat that in no way resembled fish. Yet he did not hesitate, did not cringe at its unfamiliarity. The dark youth knew it was necessary.

Finally, the boy gave off watching them and reached his own hand to the meat. He ate slowly, but heartily, and did not seem to mind when his three hosts did not reach for more. Yusuke watched him tear at the meat with sympathetic interest. It was obvious the boy had not the chance to fill his own stomach for some time, and that he needed the sustenance. And yet, wolf though he was, he peeled the meat with his hands and even took the time to chew through his mouthful before taking another. Juices dribbled from the corners of his mouth, juices that grew gradually darker as he began tearing into the tougher meat found toward the center of the muscle.

The boy eventually lowered his hands to his lap and sat back on his heels, a soft sigh passing between his lips. Guessing that he had done, Yusuke used his good hand to help Hiei gather the remaining shreds of meat back into the paper sack. The koorime nodded his acceptance of the dark youth's efforts, rolling the bag up and then crumpling it between his fists as he turned and left the room.

"Toboe?"

Yusuke turned his head in time to see the look of worry that flickered across Kurama's green eyes as the redhead leaned slightly forward. "What's the matter? Was the arrival of so much meat too soon for your stomach?"

The boy silently shook his head, lowering his gaze to the sheets that had gathered around his legs. He lightly ran his fingertips over the folds nearest him, applying only the barest touch, and yet in their wake the sheets tore loudly open as though ripped asunder by the claws of a large animal.

"You didn't pull your wounds open, did you," Kurama wondered, unable to hide the concern in his voice.

Those eyes of orange-tinted gold darted down to the bandages wrapped across his chest, and Toboe shook his head. It seemed he was as of yet unwilling to react to anything apart from a misunderstood threat and an offered meal.

Kurama looked to Yusuke for help. The dark youth thought a moment, and then he shifted closer. Very slowly, so as not to startle the boy, he reached his good hand to the sheets and dug his nails into the torn material. He let just a drop of his power loose, feeling it spill down his arm and pool into his fingertips. Feeling Toboe's curiosity like static in the air, Yusuke glanced through the corner of his eye to find that he had captured the boy's attention. Curling his fingers in a bit, he dragged his hand back, producing the same loud tearing noises as Toboe had done moments before.

Thick silence filled the room as Yusuke lifted his hand and upturned it to reveal that his nails were now elongated and sharpened to a point. Tiny fibers of cloth were clinging under his claws as evidence of what he had done; he flicked them loose.

Toboe's orange-gold eyes were wide and staring, and he whispered, "You're not human…"

"Not exactly," the dark youth confessed as softly.

"Are you a wolf?"

"No."

Kurama stood back and said nothing, his quick mind already understanding the thought process which had led Yusuke to do this. The dark youth was very cautiously revealing his demonic origin, bit by bit, a plan which might help to eventually convince Toboe of the same. The red-haired youko did not protest, wordlessly studying his son's every reaction.

Staring, the boy reached tentatively forth. Yusuke remained still as stone, letting Toboe be the one to decide when his fingertips finally came into contact with Yusuke's claws. Yet the dark youth could not control himself when the boy's light touch caused his claws to flinch outward in predatory reflex. Toboe's fingers curled in toward his palm in response, but he resumed his exploration of Yusuke's claws when it became obvious he wasn't about to be attacked.

"I can show you more," Yusuke offered.

It was a moment before the boy heard him, lifting those eyes once again. "…There's more?"

"Look here," the dark youth suggested, bringing up his clawed hand to point toward his mouth. Baring his teeth, he let show an impressive set of canines that no human had any business possessing.

Toboe leaned just a little closer, keen interest alight in his very posture. "But you said you weren't a wolf…"

"I'm not," Yusuke answered, long accustomed to the feel of his fangs playing against his lower lip. "Wolves aren't the only things with teeth and claws."

"But then…?"

Yusuke glanced over to where Kurama was still watching silently. The redhead nodded his permission. With a deep breath, the dark youth sat back on his heels and closed his eyes, slowly shedding his human guise and revealing the demon within. Markings appeared on his skin, which had darkened to a cocoa brown - there were enough markings to hint that his clothing hid more. His black hair grew long and wild as it fell toward the small of his back. And his brown eyes, though never losing their ferocity, appeared now to sway closer to solid black.

Kurama carefully gauged his son's facial expression as Yusuke revealed more of himself.

Toboe stared for a long moment, long enough to have the other two begin to wonder whether Yusuke had not made a bad decision. But then the boy was reaching again with his hand, curiously touching the dark markings on Yusuke's good arm. "Granny once told me of creatures like you," he finally whispered. "Neither human nor wolf…"

Kurama blinked. "Granny?"

"The human who raised me," the boy replied, no longer seeming to ignore the older redhead. But then his eyes took on a pained light, and he suddenly brought his hand back to feel at his own wrist, as though suddenly remembering something. _No…_

"What is it?"

_They're gone…_ The effeminate boy fell to his side upon the tattered sheets and curled in on himself, his form wavering uncertainly as he again became the young wolf. Even the voice of his mind broke with a sob, _They're gone!_

Yusuke, who could not remember anything having been brought in with the wounded creature, quickly scanned the sheets and the floor around his bed. "What are?"

_My bracelets._

Kurama's dark green eyes grew wide, and his lungs filled with ice. "Y-your…?"

_Bracelets_, the wolf repeated. He closed his golden amber eyes, as though suffering from some great hurt. _Silver bangles. There were four of them; they're all I had left of her…_

"And they're missing?"

_Yes._ And Toboe would say no more, effectively shutting himself out from the world around him.

Kurama gave Yusuke a silent look as he moved to the bedroom door, and the dark youth nodded his agreement that he would stay behind once again.


	3. He Knew Better

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Three - He Knew Better**

"Hiei," Kurama softly called as he moved through the apartment.

_Out here, fox._

Turning, the redhead crossed the small living room toward the balcony doors, one of which had been left ajar, and beyond them Kurama could see his mate standing upon the railing of the balcony itself. The morning rain was slowly dying, so that only a slight sprinkling now fell from the grey clouds above. The wet, as always, did not seem to deter Hiei from standing where he wished.

Kurama pulled the glass door a little wider and joined the fire demon, who turned around at his approach with all the grace of a sleek cat. Kurama gently pressed the side of his head against Hiei's chest and brought his hands up to the small of his mate's back. Hiei rested his hands atop Kurama's shoulders and tugged him closer, never once in danger of losing his balance. The streets below were calm and quiet, as though sensing the demons above did not wish to be disturbed.

"Did you see," Kurama eventually murmured. "His human form? Did you see him, Hiei?"

"Yes, fox."

"I could see so much of Vi in him… He has her eyes…"

"Maybe," the fire demon quietly allowed, having never met either of the redhead's past lovers. "And he does have the delicate bone structure of a nymph. But you can't argue the youko in him."

A small, hesitant smile tugged at the corner of Kurama's mouth. "I did notice. With that and the mix of nymph in his blood, his beauty must intrigue its share of admirers." His spine tensed, and Kurama pulled just away to look up with wide green eyes. "Hiei… What if he has already claimed a lover? A mate, even. We saw that he adheres to the rules of a pack."

"You think there must be someone wondering at the boy's absence?"

"It's not impossible," the redhead softly insisted. "Already, he's mentioned two human friends…"

Hiei frowned, his garnet red eyes darkening in thought.

"And, Hiei."

Those eyes promptly returned their focus upon their emerald counterparts.

Kurama appeared increasingly uncomfortable as he tried to put to words his next concern. "Yusuke revealed to Toboe his true form. And though Toboe didn't appear to be afraid, his reaction suggested that it was the first he had seen another demon. That… perhaps… he does not realize he is a demon himself…"

The other easily connected the dots, and his frown grew. "But he can't believe that all wolves can take on a human form…?"

"Who are we to say they can't?" Kurama idly wondered.

"What?"

"Hiei… Most humans are oblivious to the existence of demons. Are we any better, to assume without evidence that after all this time wolves could not teach themselves that same deception for their own survival?"

His mate grudgingly accepted Kurama's point. "But this is Japan. We'd be lucky to find even one wolf in a zoo."

"Yes," the redhead nodded, realizing they were back at square one. "Finding whichever pack Toboe must belong to will be no simple task."

~o~

Hours later, Toboe blinked his orange-gold eyes open and saw that he was alone upon the bed. Lifting his head, he found one of his hosts standing by the window, gazing out. It was the wild one, the one the older redhead had called 'Yusuke.' But he was once again clawless and without markings, and his hair had returned to it original length.

_Why did you change back?_

The other turned away from the window, dark brown eyes calmly regarding him for a long moment. "I didn't want you to wake up and think me a threat again." He smirked, "Or are you hungry for another piece of my arm?"

_You said you'd had worse_, Toboe softly insisted. _Please. Show me that side of you again._

The other grew very still at the way those words were spoken. But then he was leaving the window, slowly approaching the bed. His form wavered, skin marking itself with the jagged swirls of before. Toboe sat up on his haunches, golden eyes watching as the dark youth came near. The other crouched over the bed, lowering his good hand to the mattress, claws tearing the sheets further as he pulled the rest of his body weight upon his bed. His wounded arm was still cradled against his chest, but he managed a slow one-handed crawl that drew him very close to the young wolf. There he waited, long and untamed hair falling over his eyes and making him appear extremely feral.

Toboe was once again curious, shifting to his human form and reaching toward those of the markings that were visible. Yusuke's very dark brown eyes tracked those fingers, as their touch trailed up his arm toward the sleeve of his tee shirt. They lifted away for only a second, and then they were back, Toboe's fingertips brushing down the three markings etched into the base of Yusuke's throat.

Yusuke sucked in a sharp breath, fangs catching his lower lip.

The young wolf demon paused, though his fingers did not draw away. "Do they hurt?"

"No," the dark youth answered as softly. Swallowing, he sat back on his heels, bringing his throat out of the boy's reach. Those fingers hovered in the air for another moment before dropping to Toboe's knee. Yusuke drew in a careful breath, striving to forbid the memory of that last touch from burning into his mind. He closed his eyes, and when finally he opened his mouth to speak, his voice had lowered to a husky growl. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let that happen."

The boy reached his hand until he fisted the dark youth's shirtfront, his claws tearing through its material and skimming across the skin beneath. Yusuke's good hand flew up to catch the other's wrist, and his eyes flew open. His breathing had quickened, and he could feel his pulse thrum through his veins. He clenched his teeth, fangs cutting through the skin of his lower lip until he tasted blood. "Toboe," he pleaded. "I'm asking you not to tempt me…"

And then, just as abruptly, he released the other's hand. With his next breath, he was the human again that hid the dark storm within. Yet a low growl that no human could utter escaped his throat as he turned away and left the bed. He threw the door open and virtually fled the room before the boy could blink.

~o~

Kurama was sitting quietly on the sofa, with Hiei lounging along the cushions so that his head rested atop the redhead's lap, when Yusuke suddenly crashed down the hallway and into the living room. Hiei sat up with an annoyed scowl, but Kurama straightened to his feet when his sharp eyes discovered their friend's torn shirt and bloodied lip. "Yusuke, what happened?"

The dark youth knew immediately what had drawn the youko's attention, hastily glancing aside as he swiped the back of his good hand across his mouth. His own blood streamed up toward his wrist, but he ignored it as he dropped his fist to his side. Still not meeting the red-haired youko's gaze, he softly muttered, "I'm sorry, Kurama."

He turned toward the balcony, but Kurama was there in an instant, catching his hand to Yusuke's arm. "Where are you going?"

"I can't stay here," the dark youth growled, his head still turned aside as he jerked his arm free. "Don't try to stop me, and don't follow."

So saying, he let loose a burst of energy and fled through the balcony door. With a startled glance toward his fiery-eyed mate, Kurama paced down the hallway and stepped in through the open bedroom door. He found Toboe in his human form, sitting up in bed with his back leaning up again the wall. "Toboe," he gently spoke to the boy, striving for calm. "Are you all right?"

The boy sighed and shook his head. "Kurama," he whispered, finally calling the older redhead by name.

"Yes, young one?"

"I think I made him angry."

"Do you mean Yusuke?" Kurama sat on a far corner of the mattress, careful not to unnerve the boy. "He did look upset, but I'm sure it's not something that couldn't be sorted out. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know," the boy replied, still whispering. He folded his arms atop raised knees and dropped his head to them. "I wish Tsume was here…"

Kurama set this new name aside for the moment. "If you tell me what you did or said to make yourself think you've angered Yusuke, I can tell you whether you're not simply jumping to conclusions."

"I touched him."

Kurama hesitated, but deemed it necessary to ask. "Where?"

"His arm. And his neck."

The older redhead blinked, "That sounds innocent enough. Was that all?"

Toboe's shoulder lifted in an almost-uninterested shrug. "I wanted to see him as he showed me before. He let me feel his markings. But then he suddenly backed off, and when I tried to stop him…" The boy sighed, closing his eyes as though against some internal pain, "He didn't shout at me, but I've lived long enough with a human to know when I've been reprimanded…"

"Repri-" Kurama quickly reigned in a bemused smile, at last understanding. "Oh, young one. I suspect Yusuke enjoyed your touch more than you realize."

Toboe's orange-gold eyes opened, and he lifted his head. "But… He sounded so…"

"Upset?" Kurama nodded, "I suppose he might have been, but not with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Toboe," he gently smiled. "Yusuke may have an unhealthy taste for bending the rules, but he still adheres to a sense of right and wrong that would put a priest to shame. And you, it seems, have daringly stepped along the boundary in between."

The boy was silent for a minute, but then dropped his head to his arms once again. The look in his effeminate eyes was bleeding of confused curiosity, so much so that it nearly drowned out the grief that had been so dominant the night before.

"Tell me," the older redhead requested. "What was it that possessed you to test Yusuke's self-control?"

The boy shrugged, wordlessly.

Kurama waited, but then accepted that Toboe either did not wish to say, or else did not truly know. "One more question, then, and I'll leave you be. This Tsume… Is he a member of your pack, or another human friend?"

Those orange-gold eyes flicked up, tossing him a slightly annoyed glance. "Pack," he answered shortly. And then the boy was gone, and the russet-colored wolf curled up amongst the tattered sheets.

Kurama kept his word and exited the room, making certain to close the door behind him. Returning to the living room, he was not surprised to find Hiei still waiting for him on the sofa.

The koorime's fiery red eyes regarded him as he sat down. "What are you thinking, fox?"

"I'm thinking I was wrong," the other slowly replied. He turned his head and met Hiei's gaze directly. "I'm thinking I might have to ask you to pry, after all."

The fire demon had no difficulty following his mate's train of thought. For a long minute he did not move. Then he was pushing up to his knees and twisting around, straddling Kurama's lap. The redhead accepted him, silently reaching up and untying the head cloth from around Hiei's brow. Hiei drew in a quiet breath at the unfamiliar sensation of feeling his Jagan implant being exposed by hands that were not his own. "Fox," he breathed, fiery eyes piercing and intense as he tunneled his fingers through the other's red hair to lightly grip the side of his mate's head. "It'll likely come upon you all at once. Can you brace yourself for a lifetime of memories within the span of a few seconds?"

The redhead nodded solemnly. His mouth was set, and there was a determined light in his dark green eyes. "You know I'm no stranger to pain, Hiei."

The fire demon visibly winced, but said nothing. He was not proud of a great deal of the things he had done. But it were the things he had been unable to do or prevent that haunted him most. Kurama's bloody match against Karasu in the Dark Tournament, almost especially, was at the top of the list of things for which he could never forgive himself, despite that Hiei himself had never been the one to deal those explosive blows.

"I'm sorry," the youko whispered, accurately guessing the distress hidden behind his mate's silence. "I know you'd rather forget those days."

"No," he gruffly denied. "_You_ tend to forget that I remember those days so clearly for a reason."

Kurama did not reply, though a warm light shone in his eyes. It had taken some time for the fire demon to confess it to him, but witnessing the red-haired youko endure and prevail over so much torment had affected Hiei so dramatically that his Blood Song - a primal instinct even more powerful than that of survival - had altered itself in such a way that it became the twin to Kurama's own. And though he had agreed to becoming Mukuro's partner, the fire demon had never forgotten his revelation. When she'd suddenly died in battle, Hiei had not hesitated to return to Kurama's side where he belonged.

Hiei closed his eyes, and his Jagan blazed. Sighing, Kurama let his own eyes close as well. In the next instant, he flinched with a muted whimper. His spine went rigid, his every muscle tensed. It only took a handful of seconds but, as he had once threatened a lower-class demon, each one felt like its own torturous eternity. Finally, he let out a sharp breath and sagged against the sofa cushions.

After a moment he felt Hiei's hand leave the side of his head, and he opened his eyes.

The fire demon's expression was carefully withdrawn, though his garnet eyes shone with the faintest hint of concern. "Fox?"

"I'm all right," he whispered, unable yet to find breath enough to speak aloud. With a sigh, he dropped his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "Hiei. How will we find his pack?"

"Do you truly believe you could part with him again if we do?"

"It is my intention," was the redhead's careful reply, "if that is what he wants. Though I won't deny that my heart might break to lose him a second time…"

The koorime bumped his brow against Kurama's chest. "You are stubbornly selfless, fox. Do you at least intend to reveal your connection to him, before you try to send him on his way?"

Kurama lifted his head, staring down at his mate. "Why?"

"If it's to be his choice, better to lay every option before him." Hiei held the youko's gaze. "You saw for yourself how much he's suffered. Even his would-be last words."

The redhead's eyes brimmed at the reminder, the image still fresh in his mind. Hiei stretched up and flicked his tongue out, catching the tear that had escaped before angling his head to capture the other's mouth with his own. _I know you don't wish to send him back, only to discover the depth of all he's lost. Let him learn how much waits for him, if he remains here._

An anguished cry tore from deep within Kurama's throat. He crushed the koorime hard against him, devouring the other's mouth and plunging his tongue within its caverns to desperately taste of its hidden flavors. The fire demon allowed his usually generous mate to ravage his mouth, even fisting Kurama's shirtfront in a silent demand for more. He understood the redhead feared to lose his only son yet again. Hiei fervently hoped he knew better.


	4. Won't

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Four - Won't**

Hours later, somewhere across the city, Yusuke paused in his steps and gave a dangerous growl. "I told you not to follow me, Hiei."

"You told _Kurama_ not to follow you," the fire demon calmly contradicted.

Clenching his jaw, Yusuke turned around. His dark brown eyes unerringly found Hiei standing upon one of the branches of a nearby tree. "What do you want?"

Hiei dropped almost soundlessly to the street. "Kurama wants you to come back. We're going to attempt to explain the boy's heritage to him. All of it."

"What's that got to do with me?"

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "Everything."

~o~

Toboe blinked his golden eyes open, and then lifted his head with an uncertain whine. The one called Yusuke had returned and was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him with a strange light in his fierce eyes. Glancing behind him, the wolf saw that Kurama and Hiei stood together within the open doorway. Toboe brought his gaze back to Yusuke, and his ears lay back against his skull as another small whine escaped his throat. _Why?_ He whispered, _Why did you go away?_

Something dark passed over those eyes, and Yusuke glanced aside. "I'm sorry…"

_Was it me? Did I do something?_

"Yes," the other answered gruffly. "But it was my fault for making you believe what you did was wrong." He looked up again, bringing his hand from behind his back; "I have something for you…"

The young wolf's eyes widened, and he pushed quickly up so that he was sitting on his haunches. His golden gaze zeroed in on the brilliantly shining silver bangles grasped in the other's fist. _My bracelets!_

"It seemed like they were important to you," Yusuke said, quietly. "So I went lookin' for them."

He stacked them together atop the tattered sheets. The russet-colored wolf dipped his right paw into the center of the large rings, and his form shifted into that of the young boy as he lifted his arm up to watch the bangles clink along his wrist toward his elbow. Rust-red strands played across golden orange eyes as he lifted his head with a grateful smile. "Thank you," he whispered. "A-am I forgiven then?"

Yusuke blinked, taken aback. "Toboe…"

The boy lowered his arm, and a renewed sadness flickered across his effeminate face. He gave a sigh, "I… suppose that means I'm not…"

Taking a slow breath, Yusuke shifted more of his weight upon the mattress. "Do you still want to see more of the other me?"

Toboe nodded, waiting anxiously as Yusuke's skin darkened and marked itself, as his hair grew long and wild and fell in errant disarray over eyes which yet again claimed that feral ferocity. As before, it was Toboe's first instinct to reach out and explore the untamed storm that had been loosed from its human shell. But he bit his lip and held himself back, unwilling to chase the dark youth away again.

Yusuke seemed to sense what the boy wanted anyway, for he wordlessly lay his good hand palm-up upon the tattered sheets between them, even whispering his permission when Toboe hesitated. So the boy tentatively reached out, experimentally brushing his fingertips along what seemed to be the safest area - the contours of Yusuke's palm. Yusuke sucked in a quiet hiss of breath, but otherwise held very still. Toboe glanced quickly up, but the dark youth only offered a quavering smirk and nodded his permission to continue.

So Toboe's fingers swept lightly up along the inside of Yusuke's wrist toward his elbow. The dark youth's arm quivered just a little bit, and when he looked up Toboe saw that Yusuke was now breathing through clenched teeth and his fierce brown eyes were swiftly clouding over with something unnamed.

Toboe bit his lip, glancing down at his own hand. What was it about his touch that seemed to cause this dark storm so much discomfort? Cautiously, unable to help his curiosity, he settled his entire palm down against Yusuke's arm and wrapped it in his loose grip, his hidden claws only barely grazing against the other's skin.

But it seemed he had pushed too far, as Yusuke suddenly drew in a sharp breath and turned his head aside. "T-Toboe…"

"Should I stop?" The boy whispered, his hand still resting where it was.

"Yusuke?" Kurama called from the open doorway, concern slipping into his velvety voice.

"No," the dark youth hissed, vehemently shaking his head. He gasped in a loud breath, and then another. When at last he looked up again, his eyes were closer to black than to brown; Yusuke's expression looked incredibly feral now.

But this time, inexplicably, Toboe was not afraid. His grip tightened around the other's arm, his claws digging in, and he slowly leaned forward on his knees to reach with his other hand toward Yusuke's face.

"Toboe-" Kurama started in warning, but he was swiftly silenced by the fiery-eyed Hiei.

"What are you doing," Yusuke hissed through clenched teeth, his every muscle tensing as the boy drew nearer.

"Following my instincts," he replied simply, his other hand lightly resting atop Yusuke's shoulder as he shifted even closer.

Yusuke could now taste the boy's sweet breath and, despite his very obvious attempts to hold it at bay, an answering growl started up from within his chest. "Even if you don't know where they'll lead?"

Toboe's orange-gold eyes held just a hint of challenge, and he leaned forth, daringly flicking the tip of his tongue over the other's lips. When the dark youth drew in another sharp breath, Toboe did pause, yet still refused to back safely away. "You won't hurt me," he murmured confidently, licking across Yusuke's lips once more before boldly capturing them with his own.

And then it was as though a tightly coiled spring had been released. Yusuke came alive all at once. Though he remained motionless for the most part, a deeper growl escaped his throat and his mouth opened, his own tongue flicking out to greet the one that had teased his lips. To Toboe, it truly was like tasting the dark storm within, and he ventured further into the slick caverns of Yusuke's mouth in hopes of discovering more.

~o~

Yusuke's head spun dizzily, and he marveled at the purity of the boy's sweet taste. He did not pull free of the boy's grasp; the hands on his arm and shoulder were a reminder that he must behave. His darker desires flared at the prolonged contact, but he found he could restrain himself. His earlier conversation with Hiei had given him the strength to try…

~o~

"_Hiei. It's his __**kid**__."_

"_Who happens to be every bit as much a demon as you or I."_

"_You don't even realize you've just proven my point. I __**get**__ that he's a demon, Hiei. I even get that he's probably a hell of a lot stronger than he looks. But I don't want to be the one to test that theory. I can't allow myself to be tempted."_

"_Heh. Your naivety amazes me."_

"_What?"_

"_Did you never wonder, after spending so much time in the makai, why your attraction to that female Keiko flickered and died like the flame of a candle stump? Though your claim at the time that the both of you could no longer find anything in common was reasonable enough, the more potent truth is that her human blood repulsed you."_

"_Damn it, now you're making me sound like some sick vampire."_

"_**Listen**__ to me, Yusuke; I have only enough patience at the moment to explain this once. You know that nearly every demon is carnivorous. We are hunters. Predators. The baser of our instincts urge us to attack. But there is another instinct, far stronger, which lies so deep within our veins that very few even realize it exists."_

"…_Which is?"_

"_Think about it. Something about the boy obviously calls to you. And your instincts are demanding that you respond. But they are __**not**__ screaming at you to kill the boy, are they?"_

"_Well… Not always…"_

"_The stronger instinct within every demon is called our Blood Song. The blood in our veins hums its own melody, and as pathetically poetic as that may sound, it is actually an instinct to find a worthy mate."_

"_What?"_

"_Don't act so surprised. Powerful as it is, it's a simple enough concept. The Song is ever-changing - its melody only ever exactly repeats itself twice. All a reasonably intelligent demon has to do to find a perfect mate is to locate the one whose blood sings the Song as precisely as his own."_

_Yusuke had hesitated, "So… You're sayin' that Toboe…?"_

_The fire demon's mouth had tilted in a slow smirk. "Congratulations. As I've said, very few even realize the Song exists, so what you have done is something of an accomplishment."_

~o~

With one more lingering kiss, Yusuke finally drew away. Every fiber in his being fumed in outrage, but he held himself in check.

The boy let him go, the hand at his shoulder slipping away. Yet the hand on his good arm remained, its claws flexing against his skin, moments before those golden orange eyes blinked open. And Toboe's mouth slowly spread in a triumphant smile. "See? I knew you couldn't hurt me."

"I could," Yusuke quietly contradicted, turning his dark gaze toward the open doorway.

Kurama met his questioning gaze with a low sigh, and the redhead nodded. "You could," the older demon acceded. Yet his mouth lifted in a slow smile, and beside him Hiei's eyes sparked knowingly. "But you won't."


	5. His Mark

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Five - His Mark**

"Toboe," Kurama addressed the boy, stepping farther into the room. "There was another reason I'd asked Hiei to bring Yusuke home. His presence here is as much to support me as well as you while I try to reveal something to you that could very well be difficult for you to believe or understand."

The effeminate boy's golden orange eyes grew curious when the older redhead hesitated. "What is it?"

Kurama sighed, suddenly unable to meet the boy's gaze. "Forgive my reluctance. To reveal what I must will mean to destroy what precious little of your trust I may thus far have earned."

Toboe quickly turned to Yusuke, his hand gripping the dark youth's arm even tighter. Yusuke flinched, but looked upon the boy with every patience. "Toboe," he spoke. "This other side of me… Kurama has one, too."

"But before he shows it to you," Hiei abruptly interceded, striding purposely forth. "There's something else you need to see."

With a sharply indrawn breath, Kurama stared at his mate. "No, Hiei! Not all at once."

"Don't underestimate his strength, fox," the fire demon softly hissed as he drew beside the bed and placed himself almost between Yusuke and the boy. His garnet red eyes never left Toboe as he added, "After all, it runs in his veins."

It did not take much at all for Yusuke to put two and two together. His dark eyes narrowed as he turned them on Hiei. "You peeked," he accused. Then he swung his gaze around to include Kurama, "And _you_ actually let him!"

"Yusuke…"

"It was necessary," the fire demon gruffly interrupted. He gently removed Toboe's hand from Yusuke's arm, which was marked now with several indentations where the boy's claws had pierced through flesh, and replaced it with his own hand. "See for yourself," he offered, his Jagan glowing behind its cloth ward.

Yusuke sucked in a hiss of breath, his muscles bunching together beneath Hiei's touch. The next moment, he let out the breath he'd been holding in a rush, and his head fell forward. "Gods," he gasped aloud, striving to return air into his lungs as though he had been holding his breath underwater. _Now I __**know**__ I can't let myself hurt him…_

_I've already told you. You won't_, Hiei insisted, lifting his hand away. Turning his attention upon Toboe, his fiery red eyes softened. "I have the ability to share my mind with you," he patiently explained. "I want to show you my memories of Kurama. It will better prepare you for what he means to reveal to you."

The boy looked from Hiei to Yusuke, and back again. His eyes held a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. "It's going to hurt, isn't it." His words were more a statement than a question.

"Yes," the fire demon readily admitted, though his tone hinted that he referred to more than an onslaught of foreign memories. "But it won't be anything you can't handle."

Yusuke silently shifted his weight back upon his elbow, placing some space between himself and that ever-intoxicating temptation. Toboe almost let him go - but then he shot across the bed after him, landing atop Yusuke's chest. Yusuke dropped to his back with the contact and his good arm flew around Toboe before he could help himself, his darker desires suddenly drowned out by an instinct to protect the boy from jarring his healing ribs.

Toboe lifted his head, something not-so innocent gleaming in his eyes and he stretched up to flick his tongue over the corner of Yusuke's lips. Yusuke growled, lifting his head to capture that mouth with his own, but he broke the kiss before his darker desires had a chance to acknowledge what he had done. "Could you _please_ stop tempting me for two seconds?" He asked dryly.

The boy's lips pulled in a slow smile, one that tugged at Yusuke's heartstrings and caused his breath to catch in his throat. "Make me," Toboe challenged. But he did straighten away, giving the dark storm the space he seemed to need so desperately, and Toboe looked again to Hiei.

The fire demon shook his head at the both of them, some humor flicking across his garnet red eyes for just an instant. "Ready?"

Toboe nodded, sitting up.

"I hope you'll forgive me," he ardently requested of the boy. "Not all of my memories are pleasant ones…"

"Hiei," Kurama begged once more, "don't!"

"Fox," his mate answered without turning around. "Don't pretend they aren't a worthy depiction of you. I'm tired of being the only one to see you the way I do. And this boy deserves to know." And with that he reached out, carefully placing the palm of his hand to the side of Toboe's jaw. "Brace yourself," he whispered. "As I've never opened my mind to you before this, the first instant will be the most painful."

The boy was still for a long moment, but then he nodded his acceptance. And so, giving no further warning, Hiei let loose a tether of his energy and sent it forth. Toboe flinched, and a soft cry escaped his lips. He ground his teeth together, yet he could not halt the tiniest whimpers passing through as his mind continued to play host to many dark memories that were not his own.

And the more of Hiei's memories bombarded Toboe's mind, the darker they became. Toboe closed his eyes, not to hide from what invaded his mind, but to glimpse them more clearly. One, above all others, dominated his mind with the most sense of dread, guilt, and hopeless realization. It burned the sight of blood into his mind's eye, and his ears pricked as though he truly could hear a certain redhead's screams of endless pain.

At last, Hiei lifted his hand away. Toboe let out a great breath, his every muscle sagging as though they had been tensed for hours. Hiei watched guiltily as crystalline tears bled from under the lids of the boy's closed eyes and streamed down the sides of his entirely too-young face.

_I'm sorry…_

"No," the boy whispered aloud, seeming unsurprised to hear the fire demon's telepathy. Sighing, he opened his eyes and lifted his head. His orange-gold eyes sought out and found Kurama. "Now that I see you through his eyes, I can't help but respect you…"

Something akin to pain flashed across those dark green eyes, and Kurama shook his head. "Please," the older redhead softly implored. "Hold your judgment, until you've been told the entire story." His form wavered - red hair bled into silver, pale skin took on an even paler hue, and a fox's ears and tail made themselves known. He watched as Toboe's eyes widened at the sight of him, in fear or admiration he could not begin to guess.

With only a breath's hesitation, Kurama reached out with his hand and allowed Hiei to catch his wrist. The fire demon again cradled Toboe's jaw, and the chain was complete. Stealing one last glance at the benign expression on the boy's face, Kurama closed his pirate-gold eyes and allowed Hiei to pass along his own most-secret memories.

They began with Kurama's very first glimpse of the nymph Vi. Her unnatural beauty still lingered quite freshly in his memories - sleek cinnamon hair as soft as silk; desirable alabaster skin, lips so red they could make roses bleed in envy; and those eyes… The same golden-orange hue of a late afternoon sun, so penetrating and gentle they had never failed to render Kurama speechless.

Then were shared the memories of their love affair; how passionately he had pursued her, how relentlessly he had striven to enlighten her of his devotion. And how sacredly he had held her love for him when at last she had deigned to give it.

The last were a mix of joy and pain. The joy that their child, a wolf cub, had been born - and the pain of having had to watch his beloved Vi fade and die immediately after the birth. Kurama passing his beloved Vi's bracelets to their newborn son and then reluctantly giving the cub into the care of a human, who wore an identical but less valuable set which had marked her as a trusted friend of Vi's clan. Kurama again, taking the responsibility upon himself to deliver Vi's body to her people. And then, very last of all, the hit on his life that had driven him to hide in this world, thereby forcing him from his cub forever…

~o~

Kurama felt Hiei's hand leave his wrist, and he opened his eyes. He carefully studied Toboe's face, expecting to find heated anger, hatred, even hurt… But the boy surprised him. Those golden-orange eyes were watching him very closely, and with the telltale hint of new tears. "These," Toboe whispered, lifting his arm with a clinking of his silver bangles, "are really from _my mother_?"

"Yes." Taking a breath, Kurama steeled himself and pushed the words out of his mouth, "I won't even ask for your forgiveness, young one. And if you wish it, I will leave now and you will never be forced to lay your eyes upon me again."

"N-never?" The boy pushed forward on his knees. The look in his eyes turned almost pleading, as he whispered, "You would leave me again?"

"It was not my intent to leave you the first time," he answered as softly. "Even were you not all I had left of Vi, the joy I felt when you were born would have been more than enough to bring me back to you."

"You loved me? But, then… why didn't you try to find me?"

Kurama sighed, "For your protection. As my murder more than demonstrates, countless enemies out for vengeance would never have ceased pounding on my - _our_ door. I didn't think it wise or fair to you to return and invite them back again."

"Would you stay, if I asked you to?" The boy bit his lower lip, "Father. This time, may I keep you?"

"And what of the home you would be leaving behind," Kurama forced himself to ask of his son. "You see now that this world is not the same as the reality with which you are familiar. If you wanted to return to your pack, we would only need to ask a favor of an old friend of ours in the spirit world…"

Toboe only hesitated a moment. "They'll probably have found the gates to Paradise by now. I think I'll miss Tsume the most; he yelled a lot, but he looked out for me almost like a brother. But… if they _have_ crossed into Paradise, I don't know anymore if I would be able to follow them. And besides," he quietly added. "I think I'd be leaving more behind if I _did_ ask to go back."

Still reclining on the other end of the bed, Yusuke suddenly shifted uncomfortably. "Toboe," he hesitated. "I don't know if I should be part of the reason you decide to stay…"

Hiei growled disapprovingly, and Kurama gave a concerned frown. "Yusuke…"

But Toboe ignored them both. He reached with one hand, hidden claws digging into Yusuke's calf and causing the other to suck in a hiss of breath in reaction. Yusuke's fierce eyes darkened to nearly black, and the fingers of his good hand fisted the tattered sheets. Toboe did not release the other's leg, instead digging his claws in deeper. "You leave me now," he whispered heatedly, "and I'll pursue you. Just like when Kurama chased after my mother, I'll hunt you without a single thought to giving up. You'll be my prey. And I should warn you that I once brought down a mammoth walrus single-handedly."

Yusuke gave a slow smirk that only served to intensify the darkness in his eyes. "What makes you think I'd be so willing?"

"I guess I get my observation skills from my father," Toboe smiled. "In your eyes, _I'm_ the prey. And it must be going against all your instincts not to take me down."

Now the dark youth flinched, "That's not exactly-"

"I'm staying," the boy firmly declared. He turned his golden orange eyes upon Kurama, "It's _my_ decision, right?"

"No one else's," the silver fox affirmed, smiling.

"So you'd better get used to me," Toboe challenged Yusuke, squeezing the leg beneath his hand once more before letting go.

Kurama quietly chuckled at the brief look of alarm that flicked across Yusuke's eyes, having already deducted the reason behind it. "Come," he offered. "It has, it seems, been a long day for all. Sleep, young one. Tomorrow is another day."

"And you'll be here?" Toboe wondered.

"Of course," the silver fox smiled again. "As you don't appear to want to be rid of me, I look forward to the time we'll have together." And he followed Hiei out the door.

~o~

Kurama closed the door behind him, leaning against it with a much-relieved sigh. Looking up, he caught Hiei's carefully speculative expression. "What is it?"

The fire demon gave an uncaring shrug, "Only that I haven't seen you in that form since your round against Shigure in Yusuke's demon tournament." But then his mouth twisted in a dangerous sneer, "And that I've only known you as a lover in your human form."

One of Kurama's silver eyebrow arched toward his hairline. "And you wish to explore this newly reawakened facet of me, is that it?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

Softly chuckling, the fox pushed away from the door and settled into a crouching stance. Hiei, recognizing the start of one of their games, swiftly vanished in a blur of movement. An almost-nonexistent breeze blew in from the open balcony door.

Kurama let barely half a second pass before taking up the chase.

~o~

Behind the bedroom door, two young demons studied each other for several long minutes before one finally moved. Yusuke's breath hitched as Toboe crawled forth along the mattress, aligning his lithe and effeminate body boldly over Yusuke's. A low growl erupted from within his throat, "Toboe…"

"Yusuke," the boy answered as softly, lowering his body closer to Yusuke's with a small whimper. "I still don't understand…"

The dark youth lifted his good hand to lightly grip the boy's arm. Black fire began to swim within his veins, strongest wherever his body contacted with Toboe's, but he swallowed it down. "What," he asked, his voice reduced to a growling whisper. "What don't you understand?"

"I know what I'm doing to you." Toboe caught his lower lip between his teeth, "I can see it in your eyes. But I don't know how to help it."

"You're only encouraging it right now," Yusuke wryly pointed out.

"I know. I want to."

"No," he shook his head, feeling the fire in his veins flare up quite powerfully at the mere suggestion. He growled, "I asked you not to tempt me, remember? You don't get it, I-" Taking in a deep breath, he let it out, "I could hurt you."

"But you won't."

"I don't know that. Neither do you." He shifted very slightly under the boy, and then bit back a low groan as that miniscule movement burned into his skin. "Gods, Toboe, right now I _want_ to hurt you. There's a part of me that wants to break you, to tear into you and find out how well you bleed…" He paused, watching the uncertainty finally flicker across those beguiling orange-gold eyes. "Now do you see? I'm killing myself just trying not to move, when all my instincts are screaming-"

He cut off, Hiei's words returning very clearly within the back of his mind.

"_We are hunters. Predators. The baser of our instincts urge us to attack. But there is another instinct, far stronger, which lies so deep within our veins that very few even realize it exists… The blood in our veins hums its own melody, and as pathetically poetic as that may sound, it is actually an instinct to find a worthy mate."_

Yusuke dropped his head to the tattered sheets, softly chuckling with surprised realization. Apparently reassured by his sudden silence, Toboe gently settled himself atop the dark youth, head resting against Yusuke's chest. Yusuke lay very still, unwilling to disturb the sign of trust he was being given.

"Am I hurting your arm?"

He let out another huff of a laugh. Of all the things to be worried about… "Actually, no. But get up a minute; let me look at it."

Toboe dug his hands into the tattered sheets and pushed away, sitting back on his knees. Yusuke suppressed a quick sigh - he did not know whether to be relieved or disappointed. He carefully extracted his bandaged arm from its makeshift sling. He bit through the knot Kurama had made, and then used his good hand to unravel the scrap material from around his arm. Toboe gave a soft cry of surprise; dull puncture bruises were the only evidence that a young wolf's teeth had ever pierced Yusuke's flesh.

"How did you do that?" Toboe whispered. "This morning…"

"I'm a quick healer**(2)**," he shrugged, lifting his head as he pulled the sling from over his shoulder. He tossed it and the bandage scraps to the floor. He did not mention that he wouldn't have needed of either, if it hadn't been for the fact that demonic saliva always tended to make recovery a slower process than necessary.

He dropped his head again, letting his arm fall to his side. He should have known better. Toboe was curiosity incarnate; the touch of his fingers brushed lightly along the more sensitive skin of Yusuke's newly un-bandaged arm. Yusuke fisted his hand with a sharply indrawn breath, his demonic claws digging into his own palm.

"Damn it, Toboe," he ground through clenched teeth. "Please-"

"No," the boy quietly insisted, bringing himself again over Yusuke. "I said I was staying, and I meant it. Just… tell me how I can help."

The dark youth narrowed his eyes, pinning Toboe with a suddenly blackened glare. "What are your _instincts_ tellin' you?"

Toboe bit at his lip, but then lowered his face dangerously close to Yusuke's. "That you want me," he breathed. "But as far as how to give myself to you… You'll have to fill me in on that one."

His blood boiled at the invitation layering those words.

Sucking in a deep breath through his teeth, striving to maintain some control, Yusuke tangled the fingers of one hand amongst the coppery strands of Toboe's hair and pulled him down for his heated kiss. He nipped at the boy's lip, and when Toboe opened his mouth with a quiet gasp he thrust his tongue forth to explore its honeydew caverns. Without breaking their kiss, he carefully rolled them both together until he was propped on his elbows with the boy tucked under him, his long and wild hair cascading over one side of his back.

He finally released those sultry lips, dragging his mouth down along Toboe's jaw. Nipping at the boy's earlobe, he growled, "I'm going to touch you. Touch you all over. Parts of your body, places you never gave a second thought, are going to come alive like nothing you'd believe before I get done with you. I'll have you moaning my name, begging me to finally take you. You'll be _mine_, before I even come close to giving you what we both know I will."

Lifting his head, a slow smirk of dominance tugged at his lips to find that Toboe's orange-gold eyes had darkened to an amber-brown hue. The boy was aroused by Yusuke's promise. Quirking a dark eyebrow, he covered the length of Toboe's body with his own and slowly ground his pelvis into the boy. Toboe's eyes closed briefly, and the boy gave a loud gasp, his own hips lifting instinctively into the pressure. Yusuke's smirk grew more predatory as he felt the evidence he was looking for. Yes, definitely aroused.

The darker desires in his blood flared as he captured those lips against his own once again, letting his demon fangs play against the insides of Toboe's mouth, and Yusuke finally drowned himself in their intoxicating pull.

~o~

Later, as Toboe turned over in his sleep and settled closer against Yusuke's chest, the dark youth gazed down at him with a soft smile. Idly sweeping his fingertips back and forth over the bandages still wrapped around the boy's torso, he marveled over the depths of his own control. His darker desires had been vastly strong, and yet somehow he had managed to fulfill his promise to introduce Toboe to new heights of sensuality without adding to the boy's injury.

Hiei had been right. His instincts to hunt, to… feed… had been insurmountably overridden by his desire to give everything of himself to this boy who was so beautiful, so pure, that even now Yusuke still felt compelled to protect his new lover.

But then Yusuke frowned slightly at himself.

Lover.

How incredibly temporary that word sounded now, in the aftermath of all that they had shared. He carefully pulled Toboe closer within his arms and kissed that head of coppery red hair, remembering what Hiei had said about the Blood Song enabling a demon to find his perfect mate…

And deciding to discuss it with the boy's father before attempting to give Toboe his mark.

2) "Quick healer" - Well, it's true. After receiving Genkai's spirit orb, his natural ability to heal had been, shall we say, upgraded…


	6. Answer

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Six - Answer**

A handful of weeks passed since Yusuke had asked for Kurama's permission to mark his son. Quite frankly, the redhead had reacted far better than Yusuke had expected.

~o~

_Kurama had laughed, genially. "You mean you haven't already?"_

_The dark youth had stared._

_Giving his head a good-natured shake, he had stepped closer and placed a hand to Yusuke's shoulder. "Yusuke. Try not to forget that a centuries-old demon thief can be staggeringly perceptive when he wants to be. I'd pieced together the evidence rather quickly. The fact that you tried so conscientiously to protect Toboe from your desires, and the fact that I have come to know your character to be very strong and honorable, lead me to believe that my son could not find a better demon to be his mate."_

~o~

Yusuke was standing out on his balcony, his arms wrapped contentedly around Toboe's middle. Toboe's back was rested comfortably against Yusuke's chest, his head tipped back against Yusuke's shoulder as they both watched the pedestrian passersby below. The young wolf demon's recovery was slow, but steady, and so long as he was careful Toboe could move about without assistance. And he had kept true to his word; he very seldom let Yusuke out of his sight.

Not that Yusuke was complaining, of course. He had an enticing new lover, he had won out over his darker desires, and Toboe had agreed to become his mate. They had only to wait for the boy's strength to return in full, and then Yusuke would give him his mark.

"Yusuke," Kurama called from the living room, interrupting his blissful thoughts. "Your mail is here."

Sighing, the dark youth placed a soft kiss behind Toboe's ear and reentered his apartment. He had a long-standing arrangement with his landlord. So long as he did not stir up any trouble with the other tenants in the building, and always paid the rent on time, his landlord would forego regulations and bring Yusuke's mail directly to his apartment.

Yusuke bent before his front door's mail slot and picked up the small handful of envelopes. Shuffling through them, he gathered the bills to deal with later, rolled his eyes at a sweepstakes offer… And then froze.

"Yusuke?" Kurama's voice wondered, seconds before gentle fingers pried the envelope from his hand. The dark youth blinked, turning to the redhead. Kurama's dark green eyes let show his confused curiosity as he studied the harmless-looking item. "Post-marked in Domino City… Seto Kaiba. A well-known name in world of gaming franchise." He looked up, "Yusuke, do you know this person?"

Toboe entered the living room now and, sensing trouble but not understanding its source, automatically stepped into the security of Yusuke's arms. The dark storm held him carefully closer, an almost absent reaction to the boy's need for comfort. "No," he gruffly answered, taking back the envelope. "It's the post-mark that worries me…" He brought the envelope behind Toboe's back so that he could use both hands to tear it open, then held it at eye-level.

~o~

_Mister Urameshi;_

_Let's quickly move beyond the fact that you don't know me and I don't know you. Because it appears we have an acquaintance in common. I never once heard him mention your name. And yet, for some reason, you are listed as his emergency contact._

_I won't bother filling you in on trivial details. Suffice to know that I have bothered to contact you at all._

_Whoever you are, he must've placed some trust in you at one time to have listed you for emergencies. I despise involving an unknown like yourself, but I won't ignore his wishes._

_I have arranged for a car to receive you from the two o'clock train at Domino Station, this following Monday. Come alone, or bring someone with you if you must, but I warn you now that my patience is strained at the best of times. And this current situation has already tested most of my reserves._

~o~

There was no signature. Yusuke's eyes scanned the letter again, a scowl twisting his expression as he found no further clue within its coldly professional message. Monday. According to the date in the letter's header, he had just three days. His hand began to shake, and the letter was gently removed from his trembling fingers once again.

He looked up. Kurama's eyes moved quickly over the letter, the hint of a frown creasing his own lips. "I don't understand," he murmured. "Who is it you know in Domino, Yusuke?"

The dark youth clenched his teeth, his demon heart thumping an erratic human beat as he gave in to increasing panic.

"Yugi…"

~o~

_A sharp pain lanced through his abdomen. With a small whimper, he fell back upon the mattress of his bed and curled up on his side. His eyes began to tear, and he bit at his lip to keep from crying out. The pain in his stomach flared, pushing up underneath his lungs, and every one of his spinal cords felt as though it had been set afire._

_Turning his head, he fisted his pillow to his face and screamed until the ache in his lungs worsened and his throat burned. He screamed until his voice cracked and gave out, at the same moment a breeze from an opened window threw chills over his fevered skin. His screaming would have continued, even without the voice to support it, had not his eyes rolled back and all he knew was darkness._

~o~

_(three days ltr., Monday)_

"Yusuke…?"

He tore his gaze from the window and turned his head. Sitting beside him was a young demon with - in Yusuke's opinion - a hauntingly beautiful face, framed with coppery red strands that fell into liquid golden-orange eyes. The young demon wolf wore beige military slacks with the legs tucked into dark tan army boots. His shirt was a solid white flannel with its sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, its collar zipped open to allow a peek at the bandages wrapped around still-healing bullet wounds. His build was somewhat small, showing that he was as much a runt of a human as he was a wolf, but Yusuke understood that a greater strength lay _within_ that pure and haunting beauty.

Right now, those gentle orange-gold eyes were watching him with much worry. Yusuke gently swept his palm along the redhead's cheek, a small smile tugging at his mouth as he watched the boy tilt his face into the caress. "We're almost there, Toboe," he assured his lover. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

Sitting across their compartment, Kurama remarked, "It _would_ be somewhat helpful, Yusuke, if we knew more about what was going on."

Sighing, carefully pulling Toboe within the circle of his arm, the dark youth turned to the red-haired youko. "You read the letter, Kurama. Someone I know is in trouble, and I'm going to find out why." He glanced again out the window, and in the distance could see that they were nearing Domino City. "Been forever since I'd last seen it," he commented, bluntly changing the subject. He pointed to a particularly large building branded with a giant **Kc** logo; "I don't remember _that_ bein' there."

"That must be Kaiba Corp," Kurama surmised, calmly accepting Yusuke's need to avoid the subject for the moment. "Quite a lucrative franchise, if the rumors are to be believed."

Frowning, Yusuke touched a hand to the front of his jacket, where the inside pocket of which carried an enveloped letter. "Don't suppose it's the same guy, do you?"

"Feasible," the demon fox nodded. "Seto Kaiba _is_ the name of the president and CEO of that company."

Yusuke swore, and beside him Toboe gave an almost inaudible wolf-whine. "Sorry," he automatically responded, kissing the boy's forehead. "I'm just pissed at myself. I hate that I haven't kept in touch. How do I excuse not knowing who his friends are anymore?"

The young demon wolf looked up with a hesitant smile. "Has he been kept up-to-date on the kind of 'people' you hang out with?"

He chuckled, distracted again despite himself. "Point taken."

The train finally shuddered to a stop. Yusuke helped Toboe to stand and, with Kurama following behind, they grabbed their bags, had their tickets checked over, and exited the station. But then Yusuke froze, his fingers tightening slightly around Toboe's hand, and to the other side of him Kurama narrowed his dark green eyes in quiet speculation.

A woman in a grey chauffeur's uniform and a pre-teenage boy with impossibly long wild black hair stood before a classic black limousine. When Yusuke saw that the woman was holding up a sign with his name on it, he muttered another profanity under his breath and stepped forward.

"Yusuke Urameshi?" The dark-haired preteen queried.

"Yeah…?"

"ID, please."

Frowning, the dark youth set down his bag and reached into his back pocket. He pulled his non-driver's identification card from his wallet and showed it to the preteen. Then Yusuke was staring as the preteen brought something out from the inside of his jacket, a scanning device of some kind, through which he swiped Yusuke's card. Apparently satisfied, the preteen nodded and handed the card back. His companion seemed to take that as a silent order, stepping forth to open a passenger door to the limo.

"Come on, then," the preteen instructed as he got in.

Clenching his teeth, Yusuke carefully helped Toboe into the limousine, and then he and Kurama followed, the door shutting behind them. The preteen was sitting across from them, facing back, and already dialing a number into a black cell phone. The limo started up and pulled out into the street.

"Excuse me," Kurama politely spoke, and there was the tiniest hint of impatience in his voice. "But who are you?"

The preteen held up a finger, signaling for them to wait. A moment later, he was speaking into his cell. "We're on our way. No, he's got friends with him. Two." The preteen held his other hand over the speaker of his cell phone and looked to Kurama. "What're your names?"

"Suuichi Minamino," the redhead provided. Motioning to the boy in Yusuke's arms, he added, "My brother, Kurai."**(3)**

The preteen repeated the names into his cell. "No, I only checked Urameshi. Go ahead, if it'll make you happy. Maybe twenty minutes, the way Suzunagi's pushing the speed limit." He frowned at something being said on the other end. "You do, and I won't speak to you for a month. Try me. Because she's the only one who's been able to meet your ridiculous demands without breaking any laws _and_ I happen to get along with her. I did not, I _hated_ Mizuno! Yep, him too. Well, I liked that one, but he couldn't keep up with your standards. And-"

He cut off, the color draining from his face. He visibly swallowed, and his voice lowered to a tone layered with underlying fear. "Is that the doctor?"

Yusuke tensed in his seat.

The preteen grew increasingly quiet, waiting to take up his conversation again with whoever was on the other end. He drummed the fingers of his other hand atop his knee, and he chewed on his lower lip, clearly worried. After several minutes, he sat up again. "How is he? What complications? I-I don't know- Suzu?"

This last was spoken over his shoulder as he rapped his knuckles against the darkened glass separating them from the driver. The glass slid noiselessly down, and the driver spared her very young employer a glance through the rear-view mirror. "Sir?"

"Are we nearly there?"

"We've just made the last turn, sir. We should be arriving at the gates shortly."

The preteen turned around again as the glass slid upward once more. "So we'll be there any second now," he relayed into his cell phone. "Okay. Bye." He flipped his cell phone shut.

Yusuke leaned forward. "_What's_ going on? What complications?"

"My name is Mokuba Kaiba," the preteen finally introduced himself. "Seto's my older brother. He's the one that contacted you."

"You're not answerin' me," Yusuke growled.

But then the limo screeched to a halt. Mokuba shoved the door open before the driver could get to it and leapt out. "Come on," he shouted. Yet Yusuke would not rush Toboe, who was still on the mend. Mokuba fidgeted impatiently while Yusuke and Kurama helped the younger redhead out of the vehicle.

They had arrived at a large mansion, with a very expansive front lawn, but the three guests were not interested in a tour. They let Mokuba lead them straight up the main flight of stairs toward the third floor - though Toboe had to pause twice to catch his breath. When they arrived at a door at the end of the corridor, their small host did not bother to knock. He opened the door and stood aside to let them in.

Yusuke's heart plummeted toward his stomach. He felt Toboe's fingers release his hand, and when he turned his head his young lover offered a small smile and nodded. Swallowing, he stepped further into the room. Four doctors stood together in a corner, each holding a clipboard and quietly comparing notes. A lone bed stood amidst many medical monitors. The bed's occupant lay deathly still under the sheets. His skin had paled into a sickly pallor, and his tri-colored hair seemed to have lost much of its vibrancy. "_Yugi_," Yusuke choked out, reaching forth with an unsteady hand.

"Don't touch him," softly barked another's voice.

He whirled around. A tall young man stood within the open doorway, dark blue eyes glaring under the bangs of his equally dark brown hair. "He'll likely wake up screaming," he added in warning.

Yusuke's fierce brown eyes narrowed; "You're Kaiba?"

"I am."

"Then maybe you can tell me," he growled, stalking across the room to grab the other by the front of his finely tailored shirt. "What the _hell's_ goin' on here?"

Though he had visibly tensed at being so roughly manhandled, Kaiba only calmly glared back at Yusuke before answering, "He's sick, obviously. He's in pain." Then the glare suddenly fled his eyes, and his voice lowered with reluctant concern. "We think he may be dying…"

Across the room, Kurama's quick eyes did not miss the brief look of guilt that flickered across their host's face, gone before it was truly there at all.

Flinching as though struck, Yusuke released the man and stumbled back. Soft footsteps caused him to drag his eyes up; Kurama and Toboe came to him, the younger redhead wordlessly inviting himself into Yusuke's careful embrace. Kurama spared the two an indulgent smile, but then threw a glare at their host. "Explain."

"I can't," Kaiba tersely replied. He waved toward the small group of doctors; "The best money can buy, and even they can't begin to guess what's wrong with him."

Toboe lifted his head away from Yusuke's shoulder, his golden orange eyes alight with a fair imitation of his father's glare. "Have you thought to ask him?"

A shadow passed over the young man's dark blue eyes, and this time Kurama marked it well. "Yes. But his mind is already so consumed by fever, that the doctors dismissed it as nonsense."

"Perhaps you simply misunderstood," Kurama suggested. Turning his head, he gently prompted, "Yusuke?"

Giving a jerky nod of his head, the dark youth slowly pulled away from Toboe until their only contact were their joined hands, approaching the bed once again. Ignoring Kaiba's earlier warning, he reached his free hand forth and very carefully nudged the slumbering boy's arm. "Yugi? Can you wake up for a minute?"

The boy stole a sharply indrawn breath and opened dark violet eyes that were still glazed over with fever. His lips parted, and he breathed tiny whimpering breaths - fighting whatever great physical turmoil only he could feel. With visible effort, he focused upon the figure leaning over him. His eyes widened, and his mouth tugged in a weak smile. "Yu- Yusuke…?"

"Hey," he softly greeted. "You don't look so good."

"Am I d-dreaming?"

Swallowing, Yusuke offered a ghost of his usual smirk. "You're hooked up like Frankenstein, and you call that a _dream_?"

Yugi Mutou let out a strangled laugh, but then squeezed his eyes closed with a sharp gasp, arching his spine with a pained grimace. "Help him, Yusuke…"

The dark youth exchanged a glance with Toboe, who was worriedly watching him as though Yusuke understood whom the violet-eyed human was talking about. Shaking his head, Yusuke returned his attention to Yugi and answered, "I'll help in any way I can. Where is he?"

Whimpering, the small youth lifted a quavering hand, managing to tap his fingers to his brow before his arm dropped heavily to his side.

Yusuke's eyebrows came together in an alarmed frown. Was this what Kaiba had warned about, that the doctors had deemed nonsense? But then again… Yusuke himself was a young demon that had encountered odd realities that many humans never wonder about. Was it so impossible that Yugi's words were indeed _not_ madness…?

"We'll help him, Yugi," Kurama soothingly assured, stepping around Yusuke to give the boy a kind smile. "We'll help the both of you."

Though he had never met the red-haired youko, Yugi's mouth quirked in another weary smile as though all his worries had been cleansed away. Those violet eyes closed once more, and he slipped back into unconsciousness with a quiet sigh.

Yusuke dropped his head back with an inaudible groan, his arms automatically wrapping around Toboe as the effeminate wolf invited himself again into his embrace. Beside them, Kurama threw Kaiba a look that was cold and full of authority. "Order these doctors to leave. They'll no longer be needed." The four doctors' voices overlapped each other in outrage, but Kurama ignored them. "After the sun sets, I'll expect you and your brother to keep your distance as well. Give us until morning."

Kaiba's dark blue eyes clouded over again with anger. "I'll do no such-"

"If you truly wish a full recovery for your friend, then you will follow my instructions to the letter."

"Look-"

"Listen to him, Seto," Mokuba interrupted, suddenly reminding them all of his presence in the open doorway. There was a saddened determination in the preteen's eyes as he stared down his older brother - an incredible feat, considering their vast difference in height. "Yugi's our friend. I don't want to lose him."

Kaiba's hands fisted at his sides, but he barked at the doctors to leave, and then he followed them out the door without another word. Mokuba lingered, apparently more comfortable at playing the host than his brother. "Suzunagi's already brought your bags upstairs. There are two other guestrooms on this floor. Would you and your brother like to share a room, Mister Minamino?"

"Actually," Kurama patiently smiled, "if you haven't noticed, Yusuke and Kurai are somewhat attached to one another. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind rooming them together instead?"

The preteen's eyes flicked over to the two under discussion, but seemed to accept their relationship without missing a beat. "We'll place your bag outside the door of one room, and theirs outside the other." With an absent wave, Mokuba turned away and closed the door behind him.

"When will Hiei get here, Kurama?" Yusuke asked once the three were alone.

"Nightfall," the redhead answered, glancing toward the only window in the room and noting that even dusk was still an hour away.

Toboe pulled slightly back within the circle of Yusuke's arms, staring up at his lover with golden orange eyes glistening wetly with naked concern. "Are you okay?"

"No," the dark youth confessed with a sigh. But then he offered a small smirk, lifting a hand to cup his lover's jaw. "You're cute when you worry. You know that?"

Toboe's delicately carved face grew warm with a very faint blush. "Yusuke…"

"I know I tried to talk you out of coming," he softly went on. "But I'm glad to have you here with me. I'm gonna make this up to you, I swear it."

The young demon wolf shook his head, "I'm here because I want to be. Because you need me."

"Can't deny that, but-"

"Yusuke," Kurama gently intervened. "Don't doubt us. You're one of us, and this is obviously upsetting you. Therefore, our place is here."

~o~

Twilight was fast approaching.

Kurama, who was returning to the sickroom after a brief exploration of the manor, frowned as he neared the end of the corridor. Seto Kaiba was standing outside the door, arms crossed and looking slightly more than irritated. "I'll go," the gaming tycoon spoke before Kurama could. "But I'm going to ask you a few things first."

The redhead sighed, knowing what was coming. "If you feel you must, Mister Kaiba."

"Let's start with you," Kaiba fired off immediately. "Suuichi Minamino has only one sibling, a step-brother who looks nothing like him. The resemblance between you and that other redhead is too close to be anything other than blood. You lied about who are, didn't you."

Kurama grew dangerously still, and his green eyes narrowed a small degree. "My name is Suuichi Minamino," he answered, slowly and deliberately. "Kurai is my brother. I'm sorry if that doesn't agree with any information you think you have on me, but as you no doubt have discovered I am an exceptionally private person." He paused. "Ask your next question if you insist on pursuing this further, but I caution you to tread carefully."

Seto Kaiba was easier to read than a children's book. Having himself ordered about like an invalid chafed him greatly. But it seemed he was very stubborn. "Who is Yusuke Urameshi? Why would Yugi put his own grandfather aside and list _him_ as his emergency contact?"

"I'm sorry," Kurama offered, and did not hide that he was insincere. "I've read your letter; I know that your friend Yugi never volunteered any information about whatever connection he holds with Yusuke. As such, even if I knew, it would not be my place to tell. But I can tell you this, and I'm afraid you'll have to be content with it: Yusuke and my brother were preparing for a very personal and somewhat anticipated occasion. Yet Yusuke dropped everything the moment he read the contents of your letter. I have only ever occasionally seen him so distressed, and each time someone he cared for had been in danger." Leaving it at that, Kurama rudely shoved Kaiba aside and entered the room, locking the door behind him.

Yusuke looked up as he drew near. The dark youth had removed the medical equipment - which Kurama had deemed unnecessary anyway - and shoved all to a corner of the room. He had pulled an armchair to the side of the bed, so that Toboe would no longer be forced to stand. The younger redhead was currently dividing his attention between watching over Yugi's sleep, and casting concerned glances toward Yusuke.

Kurama came to stand beside the chair, gently placing his hand to his son's shoulder. "How is he?"

Toboe bit his lip, turning his eyes again upon the slumbering boy. "I don't know. He hasn't opened his eyes since that last time, but he flinches now and then like he's still in pain…"

"That is not his pain he's feeling," spoke another voice.

All three looked toward the opened window. Hiei had already let himself in and was approaching the sickbed, his Jagan glowing behind the ward embracing his brow. He looked down at the boy slumbering so fitfully under the sheets, a strange studious light in his fiery red eyes.

"What do you mean?" Toboe wondered, his curiosity winning out over his worry.

Kurama softly recaptured his son's attention. "When I revealed my true self to you, I broke a promise to myself to remain Suuichi while I lived out the remainder of my human existence in this world. Having to keep up with both identities, plus that of myself as I am known to everyone in this room, can become more of a handful than I could possibly juggle forever. If I do not carefully tuck one aspect of myself aside, I could very well lose the whole." He nodded toward the sickbed, "This one is suffering something very like that."

Toboe's eyes widened, and to the other side of his chair Yusuke fisted his hands at his sides.

"There is another mind sharing space with his own," Hiei gruffly translated. "And the pressure of the dual-conscious is killing them both."

"But we can help them, right?" Yusuke insisted.

The fire demon was silent for a long moment, but then finally turned to the dark youth. "I would likely damage more than their minds' defenses if I tried to trespass my unfamiliar presence upon them while they're already so stressed. But maybe _you_ can untangle the mess they've gotten themselves into."

Yusuke stared, and Kurama frowned with suppressed alarm. "Are you certain that won't just add to the pressure? That you won't be endangering Yusuke's mind as well?"

A low wolf-whine slipped from Toboe's throat.

"My Jagan will help his presence feel little more than the ghost of a memory. And because the boy knows him, he'll have the best chance of success," was Hiei's confident answer.

3) "Kurai." - Because Kurama had been "reborn" in the human world, his apparent age is too close to Toboe's for any outsider to believe the truth.


	7. Yugi

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Seven - Yugi**

Two minutes later, Yusuke was sitting on the floor, his shoulders resting against the seat of the chair between Toboe's legs. Listening to Hiei's instructions to relax, he rested his head against one of Toboe's knees and closed his eyes. Hiei had placed himself between the sickbed and the chair; he rested one hand over Yugi's heart, while the other gripped Yusuke's wrist. The next moment Yusuke's mind felt lanced through as though with a white-hot poker, and the feel of Toboe's hands bracing his shoulders against the chair was the last thing he knew before he succumbed to a deeper blackness…

~o~

_I blinked my eyes open and then pushed to my feet, staring at my surroundings. I'd been dropped into an ancient-looking stone corridor. There were depictions carved into the walls which I had no hope of deciphering, but I couldn't help but stare when I saw that they were all inlaid with some kind of dark-tinted gold._

_Hiei's power nudged my back. As though I needed the reminder. I followed the corridor, only pausing now and then when another new depiction came into view. After walking for what felt like forever and just as I was beginning to fear that there was nothing left to save, I reached the end of the corridor._

_And suddenly I was standing in an empty void of darkness. A door hovered to either side of me. To my left, the first door appeared to be made of gold, with a strange eye insignia branded on its surface. It had no handle, no knob. To my right, the second door was black and resembled those I'd seen in dungeon-style video games. It had been barred with a thick slab of wood, but I was willing to bet I could get it open._

_I glanced again at the golden door, but somehow I doubted I would be able to budge that one without some help. I went for the dungeon door instead. I set my hands to one end of the slab of wood barring my way and shoved. My wrists ached, the muscles of my arms burned, and my shoulder blades both popped. Whatever wood this thing was made of, it was apparently trying to steal my energy. But I kept pushing until the wood slipped free of its hooks and fell to the floor without a sound. It vanished._

_Testing the door's latch, I quickly learned that my first assumption had been wrong. The thing was locked. Backing up, I pointed my index finger at it and fired my spirit gun. Nothing. More than a little ticked, I drew upon my demon energy instead and fired again. The impact was deafening, and with a metallic groan the door finally swung open. And I suddenly found myself in an even darker void._

_Glancing over my shoulder, I found that the open doorway was now behind me, the golden door beyond it glowing like some holy beacon. Seeing that I would be able to find my way back, I turned forward once more. And stared._

_There was a shadow across the "room." I moved closer, and saw that it was a human being. My heart clenched uncomfortably. But then I saw that it was __**not**__ Yugi, but a damned good look-alike. A doppelganger, I guessed, though he was older and darker and had a stronger build._

_He seemed chained to an invisible wall with ropes of smoke around his wrists and legs, like the way the Catholics depicted Jesus on the cross. But then he lifted his head, and he looked at me with fiery amethyst eyes that had been lined with kohl. His voice was deeper than Yugi's, too, and I could almost __**feel**__ the power that had been breathed into it._

"_Who are you?"_

_Not yet bothering to reply, I stepped close and reached toward one of the smoke-ropes binding the man. Black lightning licked at my fingertips, forbidding my touch. I spat out the ugliest profanity I knew._

_And after hanging out with Kurama and Hiei, I knew some real doozies, so that was sayin' something._

_Probably realizing what I was trying to do, the guy suddenly began pleading. "Yugi," he said. "Help Yugi…"_

_I stole another glance over my shoulder to be sure that the way out was still available. It was. Remembering how I got this far, I coated my hand with demon energy. When I reached toward the smoke this time, it couldn't touch me. I gripped the stuff and tugged. It came away with a puff and was gone before I could throw it away from me._

"_Please," the guy spoke again as his arm dropped like some dead thing to his side. "Yugi…"_

_I ignored him, holding him steady as I freed his other arm. With a low groan, he slumped against me. "Yugi…"_

_Damn, he was persistent. Not that I was complaining._

"_Whoever you are," I finally answered, shooting a burst of energy at the last of the smoke holding his legs and catching him before he could fall to the floor, "I need your help. I think Yugi's behind that other door, and I think you know how to open it."_

_When it became obvious the guy lacked the strength to stand on his own, I loosened my aura and unthinkingly shared a bit of my energy. Well, I figured I'd even the field if I was gonna count on him later. I only realized what I had done when I saw the red color of my demon energy darken to purple as it absorbed itself under the man's skin. For half a second, I worried that I had made things worse. But then the guy gave a sharp gasp and pushed away with more strength that I would have thought possible in his state. He stared at me, and I knew it was because he could feel my energy working for him._

"_I'll explain later," I promised, not knowing whether it would even be allowed. Turning away, I led toward the open doorway._

_We were standing before the golden door before I could blink. The guy surprised me, throwing himself at the door and screaming at it. I recognized his desperation as an echo of my own: "Yugi! Yugi, are you all right?"_

_A very soft whimper, like the mewing of a kitten, came from behind the door. Though I couldn't pick out any words, the man I'd freed gave a strained sigh through clenched teeth. "I'm fine. Why can't I get to you?"_

_I listened hard, but I still couldn't make out more than another miserable whimper._

"_Yugi," the man began pleading again. "Please, come out of there, or at least let me in. Don't shut me out like this…" Whatever he heard next had obviously been the last straw; he threw his fists at the door. "__**No**__, Yugi! You can't!"_

_I figured I'd waited long enough. "What's goin' on?" I demanded._

"_I need more strength," the guy asked of me. "He's locked the door."_

_I didn't understand, but if Yugi was really in there… And I was already bending the rules with my demon energy, anyway… I grabbed the dark doppelganger by the arms and fed a large amount of my energy forth. As much as it was safe for me to give away. It drained me, but the sudden spark in the guy's eyes told me I was doing something right._

_He shrugged out of my grasp, warning me to stand back. The energy I had passed to him flared up like a dark purple flame consuming his body, and he gathered it all together in his hands. I stared as the energy materialized into what looked like a giant golden key. With a loud cry, the man lifted it over his head and plunged it into the pupil of the door's strange eye insignia._

_The eye cracked. Light burst forth like sunlight streaming through the thick branches of a dark forest. The key disappeared, and the door swung open._

_We were inside the room, now, and I had to shield my eyes against the brightness. White carpeted floor, flawless white walls, and a ceiling that seemed comprised entirely of white light. From that ceiling hung thin golden chains, from which dangled duplications of the eye that had marked the door, each slowly spinning from left to right and resonating with soft music that sounded like the vocalizing of a choir._

_Under the sliver of shadow cast by my arm shielding my eyes, I could barely make out a huddled form sitting in a far corner. He would've blended right in with the rest of the room in those white clothes he was wearing, if it weren't for the fact that his tri-colored hair stood out like a sore thumb._

"_Yugi," the doppelganger cried, racing toward that corner._

_I stayed put. Oh, I wanted to go to him - what the hell kind of guy do you take me for? But the room was too damned __**bright**__, and my eyes still hadn't adjusted._

_I could hear them talking, though._

_Apparently, Yugi was familiar with his dark look-alike, calling him something that could only have been a strange sort of nickname._

"_Yugi," the man sighed in answer. There was a slight shuffling noise against the floor; it wasn't too hard to guess. I'd be unable to resist holding that boy, myself, after all the worry he'd put me through. "__**Why**__, Yugi? Why would you ever believe I would agree to it?"_

"_I'm sorry…"_

_They said something else to each other, but their voices had dropped so low that it was lost on me. The air in the room tasted sadder, somehow, so I supposed I was better off not knowing. But I knew the worst was over, so… __**Hiei. I think they're okay now.**_

_**Bring them out into the corridor**__, I heard. __**That room blinds my Jagan.**_

_Yeah, no kiddin'._

"_Hey, guys?" I called out._

_Their voices cut short, and then another's hands rested on the arm that wasn't busy protecting my eyes. "Yusuke, what-?"_

_It was Yugi. Shrugging, I answered, "You asked me for help. So here I am."_

"_He freed me from the last of the shadows," the older guy added. "And then he let me borrow his strength so that I could free you as well."_

_Hell, when he said it like that…_

"_Can you get back out?" Yugi again, and worried._

"_I have a friend on the outside." I squeezed my eyes shut and moved my arm away to point toward where I could still sense the open doorway, and the corridor beyond it. "Get us out there. He's waitin' to finish what I started."_

_I felt two pairs of hands on me this time, and I didn't argue, knowing that they could lead me out faster than if I'd tried fumbling about on my own. When the brightness was suddenly subdued into an endless black against my eyelids, I knew we were safe._

~o~

Yusuke opened his eyes, absently lifting a hand to cover the one still bracing one of his shoulders. He felt it squeeze his shoulder under his fingers, and he answered, "I'm okay." He lifted his head.

Hiei's Jagan had burned through its cloth ward and was furiously blazing. The fire demon was growling through clenched teeth, perspiration beading his brow. He was bent over the bed, his dark aura shifting about with an unstable flicker as his hands reached _into_ the chest of a slowly wakening body.

Kurama was standing behind the head of the bed, holding a small yellow flower near Yugi's mouth and nose, its pollen giving off a soothing effect to try to stall Yugi from waking too soon. But it was clear that it would not last much longer.

Yusuke swiftly got to his feet with a muttered curse. Moving behind Hiei, he locked his arms around the fire demon's stomach and braced himself. Hiei's aura pooled over him, borrowing Yusuke's strength and adding it to the power of his Jagan. Yusuke gritted his teeth, switching to his spirit energy before the extra loss of his demon kind forced him to pass out.

"Now," Hiei grunted, and together they began to pull. With great physical effort, they yanked and tugged, until Yusuke's foot slipped and he fell on his ass to the floor, bringing Hiei and something else down with him.

Kurama immediately moved his flower away from Yugi's face, allowing the boy to awaken. Grabbing an extra sheet, he tossed it over Hiei and then helped Yusuke to his feet. And then Toboe was there as well, catching himself in Yusuke's arms as though to assure himself that the dark youth was still in one piece.

Movement on the sickbed reclaimed Yusuke's attention, and the three watched as Yugi Mutou weakly sat up to stare toward the floor. They looked down.

Hiei was carefully extracting himself from the sheet, his Jagan now nearly closed and only dimly glowing after all it had been put through.

The sheet moved, revealing the life of whatever it hid so devotedly. Its secret slowly pushed up off the floor. Spiky tri-colored hair that had been more heavily streaked with gold than Yugi's was the first to become visible; the sheet slipped down to settle upon slim but strong shoulders, baring the back of a smooth bronzed neck. The sheet was grasped more securely about the nude form it protected, while capable legs carried it to the side of the bed.

Kohl-lined fiery amethyst eyes gazed with much fondness and worry at the bed's occupant. "Yugi…"


	8. Ahtem

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Eight - Ahtem**

"I'm fine," the boy breathed, tears glistening in his dark violet eyes.

The man reacted immediately, carefully sitting down on the mattress by Yugi's side and freeing an arm from his sheet to pull the boy close.

Yugi curled up against him with a familiarity that left three of the four demons wondering. "You're real," the boy marveled, whispering. "You're warm…"

The man chuckled, a low rumbling laugh that shook his sides. "And you must be exhausted. Go to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

The boy shook his head, a lamenting whimper passing through his lips even as his eyelids drooped.

"Sleep, Yugi," the man gently insisted. "I'm not going anywhere this time."

Barely a handful of minutes passed before the boy grew peacefully still, and all the tension in the room seemed to disappear at once. The man gave an easier sigh, shifting so that Yugi could rest more comfortably, and then he cast his gaze toward their audience.

Hiei had collapsed upon the window's ledge, his Jagan eye now closed so that only a sliver of pale light peeked through. Kurama was leaning back against the wall beside the window, ankles crossed, arms folded over his chest. Yusuke, suddenly concerned that the day had been a long one for Toboe, had claimed the chair and pulled the effeminate redhead with him. Toboe was now sitting sideways across Yusuke's lap, his head resting against the cove of the dark youth's neck.

The silence was eventually broken.

"Thank you," the man softly spoke, every sincerity in his voice and his eyes. "All of you. Your actions tonight have undoubtedly proven my worthiness to Ra."

Kurama's relaxed posture suddenly became less so, and his glass green eyes held a strangely serious light. "Ra?" The demon fox demanded, "The Egyptian sun god?"

_That_ certainly got the attention of the other three demons.

"The very same," the man solemnly nodded.

"Ra only grants that kind of miracle to a very select few," Kurama carefully argued. "Why do I suddenly suspect you are more than you appear?"

A moment passed, before the man finally returned, "Likely the same reason I see in your eyes a wisdom that far exceeds your years."

Kurama's gaze narrowed.

"Someone wanna translate for the rest of the class?" Yusuke interrupted. "What's Egypt got to do with anything?"

The red-haired youko gave a patient sigh. "Yusuke, in your career you have learned that our races have a very common history. That of violence, and of mysterious and almost supernatural beliefs." When the dark youth reluctantly nodded, he went on; "Egypt is no different. They believe their gods are all-powerful. In fact, in ancient times they were thought to walk the earth disguised as humans. They were held in such high regard that the pharaohs of that era were believed to be the mouths of the gods and should therefore themselves be worshipped."

Though Yusuke Urameshi often complained of a short attention span, the truth remained that he was an excellent listener, and he was paying _very_ close attention now. His eyebrows drew together in a confused frown, and he turned to the bronzed man in the sickbed. "Isn't that what Yugi called you? A pharaoh?"

"Yes," the man replied.

"And yet the era of the pharaohs is long since passed," Kurama challenged. "Which leads me to believe that you are either the ghost or the reincarnation of one."

The man suddenly chuckled, glancing down at the boy slumbering against him. "Perhaps Yugi is my reincarnation," he mused. "It would explain a few things. How we can look so alike, the great sense of affinity we share…"

"Perhaps if you told us your name, we could better understand why your gods would deign to favor you with new life."

"I wonder if even you would recognize it. My name is not exactly written in the more… conventional records."

Kurama's eyes narrowed again.

"Very well," the man consented. "I believe there _is_ a way you'll know me. Are you familiar with the secret of the tomb keepers? The Nameless King?"

A sharply indrawn breath was the demon fox's only answer. Yusuke and Hiei, and even Toboe, knew enough to guess that the retired treasure hunter was more than familiar with such "secrets."

"Explain yourself," Kurama strictly requested.

And so the man proceeded to share with them his tale. Not the fiercely protected saga passed along generations of Egypt's tomb keepers, but his own personal history, the way _he_ remembered it. From the moment his soul had awoken within the mysterious confines of an ancient puzzle; through an account of how he and Yugi had adventured together on an unrelenting quest to learn of his forgotten past; to his very difficult bout against his closest friend in hopes to reclaim his place amongst his predecessors in the gods-bestowed realm of the dead.

The early sun was just peaking over the horizon outside the window when he had finished.

Hiei had lost interest and fallen asleep on the window's ledge, arms crossed and face turned toward the approaching warmth of the sun. Yet his nearly-closed Jagan was still pulsing with faint light, which meant that he was still listening and would recall everything with stark clarity when he woke.

Toboe, too, had fallen asleep. Kurama stole into one of the guestrooms and returned with a blanket, which he helped Yusuke to spread over the effeminate wolf demon. Yusuke himself slouched just a bit to allow his lover more comfort.

Turning back to the sickbed, Kurama asked, "How is it that you have returned to this era, and in the flesh?"

"It appears preventing an age of darkness draws upon the gods' attention," the man humbly reflected. "I was approached by Ra Himself and granted one wish. I do not mean to belittle the reward of rejoining my ancestors in the afterworld, but after some time I had found it to be incomplete. So I stood before Ra and voiced the one thing I wanted above all else. I knew the impossibility of it, yet I dared to dream that nothing was impossible for a god."

"You wished to be with Yugi again?" Yusuke guessed.

"I had discovered that any heaven was to be my hell, were Yugi not there to share it."

"Why not just ask to be reborn in this century?" The dark youth wondered. "Maybe around the same time Yugi was. Then you could've been given a body of your own, and when you were old enough you could've tracked him down."

"But one cannot exist in two places at once," Kurama quietly countered. "Which means Yugi would never have discovered the soul of a king within his puzzle. They would have gone on existing, each without knowing anything of the other, and Egypt's age of darkness would never have been evaded."

"Ra in His wisdom must have foreseen that," the pharaoh nodded. "And now I wonder whether He had not foreseen the coming of you four as well…"

Kurama frowned, "What do you mean?"

He looked to Yusuke, "Do you remember the two doors? One golden, the other dark and corroded?" When the dark youth nodded, he explained, "Those were replicas of the soul rooms the puzzle had provided whenever Yugi and I needed to communicate. The inside of the puzzle was like a labyrinth to intruders, but we never failed to find each other's door."

"What about the corridor? All those pictures…?"

The man smiled, "They _are_ something to marvel at, aren't they. That corridor was for when we wanted to meet on equal ground, which was often. The depictions you saw once provided a sense of peace and of purpose, for the both of us."

"But there wasn't a puzzle this time," Kurama interjected, quickly putting two and two together.

"No," the man agreed, sighing. "Ra had wanted to test my devotion to Yugi, though He knew full well that I would have given up eternal peace for no other. He branded my soul, in its entirety, into a body that already housed one of its own. Shoved somewhere in the back of Yugi's mind, my soul grew stronger. The strain eventually took its toll. Yugi began suffering from headaches, then migraines. They grew to be so much, that the pain would shock down his spine, cutting along his every nerve until all he knew was pain. But Yugi, somehow sensing the truth of what was going on, refused to fight for possession of his own body."

Yusuke grew dangerously still, though his arms carefully tightened around Toboe, pulling his lover closer. A look of sympathy and understanding flitted across Kurama's face. Hiei's fiery red eyes blinked open for half a second, then closed again.

"I didn't realize yet what he was doing," the pharaoh went on. "I could only sense that he wasn't well. Fumes flooded in beneath my soul room door when he first contracted a fever. Lightning lanced through me when the pressure of my strengthening soul caused him to pass out for the first time. I finally began to suspect that Ra's gift had backfired, or else came with a hefty price."

"Yugi's life, for yours," Kurama softly filled in.

"And Yugi was all too willing to let it happen. But I didn't want that. I would _never_ want that. So I did the only thing I could think to do. I began feeding the strength of my own soul into his in an attempt to spare him. I surrendered it all and resigned myself to disappear into oblivion, if only to give Yugi his right to continue living."

"So that's what you meant," Yusuke muttered, looking up to meet the pharaoh's gaze. "While I was trying to free you. You weren't asking me to save Yugi first and then come back for you. You were tryin' to talk me into leaving you there. To let you die for him."

"I thought it to be the only way," the man explained, glancing once more at the boy in his arms. "I didn't know that he'd had the same plan to save me." He looked up again, "And yet when your will proved stronger than my own, and you force-fed your strength into me, I wondered if Yugi and I _couldn't_ somehow reach a balance. If there truly _wasn't_ a way for our two minds to coincide…"

"You said you didn't know that Yugi was trying to give his body over to you?" Kurama tried to confirm.

"No, I didn't."

"But you were like a battering ram at his door," Yusuke recalled. "The way you acted, I thought there might've been something dangerous in there with him."

The pharaoh shook his head. "Only Yugi, hurting himself. I'd sensed it the moment you led me into the corridor." Then he paused, as though just remembering something, and he cast his fiery amethyst gaze toward the window. "I wonder whether your friend would have been so successful in safely separating us, if it had not been Ra's will that he do so."

"Probably not," Kurama replied, a slow smile at last returning. "A large number of Hiei's abilities are unique and cannot be equaled, but I doubt even he could have given you a body of your own. It is likely your spirit would have come free, of course, but you would have been left with little choice but to haunt Yugi for the rest of his days."

"I kinda doubt he'd have been too unhappy about that," Yusuke wryly commented with a pointed look at the way the boy was sleeping.

"But you never answered," the demon fox continued. "Quite obviously, the Nameless King cannot remain nameless."

The pharaoh chuckled, "But you have yet to tell me your names."

"You already know that my name is Yusuke," the dark youth provided. "My last name is Urameshi." He waved his free arm toward Kurama - "He goes by the name Suuichi Minamino," - and then nodded toward the slumbering creature on his lap - "and this is his brother, Kurai. You've already met Hiei Jaganshi," he tacked onto the end.

The pharaoh was quiet for a moment, but did not seem angered or insulted when he requested, "And your real names?"

Yusuke and Kurama exchanged a look. Kurama nodded.

"I've actually already given you two of them," Yusuke smirked, pointing to Hiei and then to himself.

The red-haired youko spoke, "While my mother and her love for me lives on in this world, I bear the name Suuichi. But you may call me Kurama. And as for Kurai… As you have suspected earlier, I am not nearly as young as I appear. Kurai is really Toboe. My son."

The pharaoh seemed to need a moment to absorb that one. But then he nodded, "I can certainly understand the gravity of a secret or two. But what did you mean by 'this world'?"

"Just the way it sounds," Kurama calmly informed him. "Our ties to humanity are timid, at best. Hiei is a fire demon. I am a demon fox, while my son's blood is dominated by the wolf-trait his mother carried. And Yusuke…"

"I'm a half-breed," the dark youth himself supplied, smirking. "One of my ancestors was a Mazoku, and his demon blood ran dormant in over forty generations of humans until it flared up again in me."

"A handful of the Egyptian gods have been known to dapple in the doings of evil," the pharaoh slowly spoke after another brief pause. "To balance the scale, it must follow that there are humane demons." He gave Yusuke a very direct look; "Does Yugi know?"

"No," the dark youth bit off. But then, realizing the man had had a right to ask, Yusuke sighed and added, "We'd lost touch with each other. It'd take hours to fill him in on everything."

"Which we plan to do in good time, of course," Kurama assured. "But you're distracting us again."

The man's mouth tugged in a slow smile. "I believe it was _your_ talk of dual identities and demons existing among humans which distracted _me_," he contradicted. He glanced down yet again at the boy slumbering in his arms, as though he could not help but be drawn to the reality that they were together again at last. "In fact, it was Yugi that helped a Nameless King to remember his name. I never did get around to repaying him for that…" Sighing, he looked up again. "Very well, friends of Yugi."

Kurama tensed, waiting. Yusuke caught himself holding his breath. Toboe burrowed his face deeper against the cove of Yusuke's neck; Hiei rolled to his other side, pressing his closed Jagan against the cool glass of the window.

"My name is Ahtem."


	9. Aniki

Title:** Desperate Darkness**

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Nine - Aniki**

Later that morning, Yusuke was waiting outside the door when Seto Kaiba returned. The young gaming tycoon narrowed his dark blue eyes in warning, but Yusuke was far from intimidated. "Can't go in yet. Sorry."

Kaiba's expression warped into one of much impatience at being so casually thwarted. "I gave you the night. That was the deal."

"Yeah, thanks for that. But Yugi's gettin' dressed, and I doubt you two are so close that he'd let you watch."

"Getting…?" Kaiba's frown slackened, "He's out of bed?"

Yusuke shrugged, "Long enough to get dressed, anyway. He's still recovering."

Kaiba's reaction was immediate. He stepped forward and tried to shove Yusuke out of the way. But Yusuke was ready. Faster than eyes could follow, he'd grabbed Kaiba's arm and spun them around. Kaiba found himself pressed up against the wall of the corridor with his arm twisted behind his back before he realized what had happened.

Yusuke pressed up against the taller youth's back, effectively twisting the other's arm harder in the process, and a low growl slipped into his voice as he spoke near Kaiba's ear. "I'm only gonna tell you this once. The _only_ reason I haven't broken your arm yet is because you were smart enough to contact me when you saw how bad Yugi was gettin'. But when I say no, the answer is _no_."

He twisted once more at Kaiba's arm. A soft grunt of pain passed between the other's clenched teeth, and Kaiba grudgingly nodded that he understood.

"We're ready, Yusuke," they heard from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, well I'm not," the dark youth retorted. When no further response was made, he knew Kurama had caught the scent of the human in his arms. Yusuke waited a moment to release Kaiba; he _had_ taken it upon himself to warn the guy, after all. "Listen," he hissed into the other's ear. "Yugi told me you'd understand. That he'd tried to explain it to you for almost a year, and that you refused to believe hum until your little trip to Egypt three years ago."

Kaiba tensed; he turned his head to toss a glare over his shoulder. "What does any of that have to do with now," he carefully demanded.

"Everything," Yusuke insisted. "Yugi's words _weren't_ madness, Kaiba. There _was_ someone else involved, and they were both in pain."

He paused, finally noticing something in the other's stiff silence. "And you _knew_ it, didn't you. He was trying to tell you, to ask for your help, and you were more willing to believe those stupid white-coats than you were your own friend!" Angrily, he twisted once more at the taller youth's arm before releasing him and shoving him away.

~o~

Kaiba stumbled a bit and turned around. Urameshi's eyes had narrowed into thin slits, their color suddenly seeming closer to black than brown. He had bared his teeth in a snarl, and his posture had shifted into an almost-predatory crouch. In that instant, Seto Kaiba wondered that the dark youth could look so dangerous and feral.

The door opened, and Kurai Minamino was suddenly there, quickly placing himself between Urameshi and Kaiba. His lungs heaved as though he had raced for miles. He threw his arms wide, as though he alone could protect their host from Urameshi's wrath.

"Yusuke," he breathlessly whispered. "Yusuke, please."

"He _let_ it happen," Urameshi hissed, eyes staring straight passed the small redhead toward his intended prey. "Yugi could've died, and he was just standing around, _watching_ it happen!"

Kaiba automatically stepped forward, a ready defense on the tip of his tongue.

A low rumbling filled the corridor as he drew nearer, and it took Kaiba by great surprise to realize that the sound was coming from Urameshi. He was growling.

"Stay back," Kurai warned, his tone sharper than his gentle appearance would lead one to believe possible of him. Kaiba froze.

The redhead returned his attention to Urameshi, who suddenly seemed to be struggling to hold himself back. "Look at me," Kurai urged. "Look at _me_, Yusuke."

Those almost-black brown eyes darted to him.

He never flinched, and his effeminately soft voice rang with unusual strength and clarity. "You promised. You swore…"

Much of the blackened hue fled from those eyes, and Urameshi seemed to hesitate.

Kurai Minamino's next words held a pure sort of sadness that inexplicably tempted even Kaiba's heart to break for the boy. "Will you tear into me, to see how well I bleed…?"

Though Kaiba thought the phrase grotesque and uncalled for, it seemed to have a profound effect on Yusuke Urameshi.

The dark youth seemed suddenly to return to himself, his eyes focusing on Kurai for a long moment before his expression became pained and riddled with guilt. Straightening out of his crouch, he slowly reached his hand forward, palm up, both an invitation and a plea. Kurai dropped his arms and came immediately forth, stepping into Urameshi's embrace.

Urameshi lowered his head, placing a kiss atop the boy's coppery red hair. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yusuke," they heard from beyond the open door. The call was soft-spoken and pleading, pushed by a young voice lacking its usual strength.

The dark youth pulled slightly away, taking Kurai's hand in his own, and the two entered the room.

Kaiba made to follow, but his path was blocked again, this time by Suuichi Minamino. This older redhead pinned Kaiba with his glass green gaze. "How well are you prepared?"

The gaming tycoon frowned, but he took a moment to think about it. If Yugi's words had indeed _not_ been madness - as he had secretly suspected but had been unable to do anything about - there awaited for him quite a surprise in that room. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what it was he should be expecting. Before his bout of temper, Urameshi had mentioned Egypt. But that matter had been resolved.

Hadn't it?

Kaiba looked over Minamino's shoulder toward the open doorway, but he did not yet resist the redhead's blockade. He could almost hear Urameshi's voice, talking with Yugi, though their words were too quiet for him to decipher. And he wondered.

"Mister Kaiba," Minamino spoke again, still wanting an answer.

"Egypt."

"Yes…?"

"Puzzles and rods and such that enabled dark magic and forced people into comas?"

The redhead's mouth tugged in a wry smirk. "Getting closer…."

"A three-thousand-year-old amnesiac pharaoh?"

"Bravo," Minamino chuckled darkly, finally stepping aside.

Seto Kaiba hesitated a moment longer. But then he squared his shoulders and, pushing past the redhead, he stepped through the doorway and into the room.

The first thing he noticed was something that, to Kaiba, was completely out of place. Upon the ledge of the room's only window lay a dark huddled form, and somehow Kaiba did _not_ trust its meager size.

Shaking his head, he instead turned his gaze to the center of the room.

All the medical equipment had been disconnected and shoved aside. Urameshi was sitting in a chair beside the sickbed, with Kurai perched comfortably on his lap. The younger redhead was resting sideways against Urameshi's chest; Urameshi was currently passing the fingers of one hand over and over through the other's coppery strands, a slow repetition that seemed to comfort them both.

Yugi was indeed awake and looked significantly better than he had the day before - than he had in weeks, even - sitting up against the pillows in a fresh grey sweat suit. But he was not alone; another's arm was slung around his shoulders in an almost protective manner.

Kaiba's eyes zeroed in on that arm, taking in the subtle strength beneath its bronzed skin. The body that arm was connected to had been clothed in dark grey denims and a deep purple tee shirt, likely pilfered from somewhere. Then the rest of the scene registered, and Kaiba stared at a darker, older version of Yugi.

The very room seemed to whirl before Kaiba's eyes.

The pharaoh's kohl-lined fiery amethyst gaze was steady, his face drawn in a carefully blank expression. His voice when he spoke was amazingly deep and laced with might that could very well have been gods-given. "Hello again, Seto Kaiba."

When Kaiba did not immediately step further into the room, the older Minamino brother lightly shoved at the small of his back until they were both clear of the doorway. The door gave a quiet click as it was shut. Kaiba flinched as though a rifle had gone off.

Across the floor, Ahtem moved his arm from around Yugi's shoulders and stood away from the sickbed. He slowly approached the gaming tycoon. "You do believe what you're seeing this time, don't you?"

Swallowing audibly, Kaiba nodded.

"And you remember all the times you refused to believe that Yugi's words were nothing less than the truth?"

He nodded again.

"The times you mocked him for believing in the heart of the cards?"

"Yes."

The pharaoh paused with barely an arm's length of space between them. His true height now almost mirrored that of the older Minamino brother, and so it was no great challenge to come level to Kaiba's wary stare. "And you remember very clearly, don't you, the times I have had to beg for you to listen to reason, for Yugi's sake if no one else's - only to have you so intent on beating us at a _card game_ that you would ignore me completely." That last was not a question.

The barest hesitation, this time. "Yes, I do."

There was a brief pause, fire and electricity potent in the moment's silence. And then Ahtem lashed out. With one very decisive swing, the pharaoh threw a roundhouse punch that connected soundly with Kaiba's jaw. The precise force behind it caused Kaiba to stumble back and fall to the floor. He touched his fingers to his mouth, fingers that came away bloody.

A pair of black boots paused within his sight, and he looked up to find the point of a sword level with his eyes. The hand gripping it was heavily wrapped in bandages and belonged to a small-framed young man with spiky white-streaked black hair and glaring red eyes. Kaiba realized instantly that this was the dark form he had glimpsed at the window, the one he had suspected was not as harmless as it had appeared. The stranger's crimson eyes blazed dangerously beneath a fresh white head cloth as he hefted the tip of his blade closer to the bridge of Kaiba's nose, coincidentally emphasizing Kaiba's thought.

It took only one word, spoken by one weakened voice, to dispel the thick friction in the air.

"Pharaoh…"

The stranger very slightly turned his head toward the source of it, but his eyes and his blade moved not an inch.

Behind him, Ahtem discarded his anger and turned away. He returned to the sickbed, careful not to jar the mattress too much as he took his place once more by Yugi's side. Yugi welcomed him back, curling up against Ahtem's chest. Urameshi distracted himself from the redhead on his lap to throw the pharaoh a smirk of cocky approval, and even Kurai offered a small smile.

The elder Minamino reappeared out of nowhere and took Kaiba by the arm. The crimson-eyed stranger eased back a step or two, his eyes and his blade following Kaiba as he was roughly brought to his feet. Kaiba shot the one handling him a wary look, letting himself be steered toward the door.

"As you can see," Minamino spoke, with deadly calm, "you have much to answer for. Not only have you endangered your friend in the past, and the world as we know it, but you have also done so again with little faith in what you knew to be true. Your one redeeming factor at the moment is that Yugi unbelievably still regards you as a friend." He opened the door and shoved Kaiba into the corridor, slamming the door behind him.

The sound of it echoed in Kaiba's ears, and after a moment he sighed and started walking.

~o~

Kurama sank back against the door with a quiet sigh. He had never been one for theatrics, and letting show his disappointment in their host in such a physical display exhausted his human self.

Hearing soft sounds of movement, he lifted his head and saw that Hiei had returned to the window's ledge and was now watching for him to make the next move. Offering the koorime a small smile, Kurama swung his gaze toward the center of the room. "Yusuke…"

The dark youth looked up.

"I believe we have time now to fill in some of the blanks," he gently suggested. "If you would be so kind."

"Right," Yusuke muttered. Curled against his chest, Toboe gave an almost inaudible wolf-whine. But Yusuke hugged him closer, murmuring, "It's all right. I've somehow gotten all of you to think this was some deep, dark secret, and it's my responsibility to set the record straight."

"Yusuke," Yugi whispered with evident concern.

Yusuke turned his head, and Kurama marveled that the dark youth's eyes held much fondness in them - on par with that he held for Toboe, but of a completely different kind. Sighing, Yusuke answered, "I know. I know I'm breaking my own rule with this, but I think we've waited long enough." Then he gave a slow half-smirk. "I never liked the arrangement, anyway."

Yugi was quiet for a long moment, but then the boy offered his own small smile. "Neither did I… aniki."


	10. Whole

_Title:__** Desperate Darkness**_

_**By:**__ Aina Song_

_**Fandom(s):**__ Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_**Genre:**__ Yaoi_

_**Rating:**__ PG-15_

_**Warning(s):**__ Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end._

_**Pairing(s):**__ Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe_

_**Reviews:**__ Yes, please._

_**Author's Note:**__ Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Chapter Ten - Whole**

Kurama and Toboe stared, and even Hiei leapt to his feet on the window's ledge. Only Ahtem seemed to lack the proper level of surprise, though his kohl-lined fiery amethyst eyes seemed alight with piqued interest. Yusuke looked to each in turn, his gaze lingering on Toboe before settling on Kurama. And his smirk was apologetic.

"When I was twelve," he began, "my mom's drinking finally caused more trouble than the local authorities could ignore. They took her in for a little 'vacation,' and I was given into foster care."

"What?" Kurama interrupted before he could help himself. "You?"

Hiei scoffed, "Bet you didn't go easy."

Yusuke's smirk widened, though there was an edge to it. "Oh, I went willingly enough. Until I realized they weren't plannin' on bringin' me back. I know I've always said some stupid things about my mom, but there was no way I was gonna let _them_ decide what to do about it. I must've been passed through seven different foster homes before they finally surrendered and gave me what I wanted." He sighed, "But by then, I almost didn't want to go. That last home offered me something I never knew I'd always needed."

Kurama saw the way Yusuke glanced at Yugi Mutou, and he could guess what it was his friend meant.

"I was nearly eleven when my parents died in an accident," Yugi took up the tale. "They put me into temporary foster care while they tried to locate my grandfather." He hesitated, "I… wasn't very talkative. I rarely said a word to anyone, even the woman taking care of us. I busied myself with any puzzle or sudoku book I could get my hands on." His mouth tugged in a small smile of remembrance. "I barely even noticed when they brought Yusuke in."

"Well, I noticed you," Yusuke chuckled darkly. "Sitting at a table in the corner, head bent over a thousand-piece puzzle that looked more than half-done. Clothes torn and smudged with dirt. A bruised jaw, a bloody lip… You were crying. You weren't loud about it, but even from the front door I could see you rubbin' your hand over your eyes, like you were tryin' to keep your tears from blurring your view of the puzzle pieces."

Silence fell in the wake of his pause. Toboe glanced from his lover to the boy on the sickbed, his concern now encompassing the both of them. Ahtem gently tugged Yugi closer against himself, his eyes now liquid and filled with much sympathy for the boy.

"Kids can be cruel, can't they," Yusuke commented, his smirk gone. "Especially foster kids, desperate for any distraction to make themselves feel better. There was Yugi - quiet, fascinated with puzzles and number games, smaller than his age allowed, and with violet eyes and wild purple-and-blond hair that was a far cry from the usual Japanese coloring… An easy target. And there were just too many kids under the same roof for the woman in charge to keep an eye on all of us at once.

"Even back then, I loved gettin' into fights. But here was a kid that never said or did anything to anyone, who couldn't - or _wouldn't_ - defend himself. It wasn't right. So the next time they went after him, I stepped in. They learned fast not to mess with him after that, though I barely left his side to give them the chance. I was his hired man-"

"Or my guardian angel," Yugi softly laughed.

"Hell, Yugi, you know I was no angel." Shaking his head, he continued his tale: "Yugi taught me the fundamentals of number games, and while he was workin' on his puzzles I would tally away at his sudoku books. You wouldn't believe it to look at me, but back then I was actually clever enough to fill those things. We would sit there in that corner, just me and him, refusin' to involve anyone else in our comfortable little bubble. And whenever we had to leave that corner - be it for meals, bathroom breaks, or the random field trip - I would always have his back. Me and him, against the world, and I would protect him like he was my kid brother.

"And then they came back for me," he sighed. "I had nearly forgotten that I was waitin' to be taken back to my mom, to the life they took from me. I was torn. There I was, packin' my clothes to go home again… And there Yugi was, sittin' on the end of the bed that had been mine and watchin' me prepare to leave him behind.

"I had to go. Hell, I _wanted_ to. But I couldn't leave him alone like that, to those other kids just waitin' for their chance at him once they knew I was gone. I knew what I was goin' back home to but, gods help me, I wanted to take Yugi back with me. But at the same time I knew that couldn't happen. Yugi wasn't like the other kids; he had family out there, and once they found it that's where he'd be goin'. I s'pose it should've made me feel better to know that, to know he wouldn't have to stay with those bullyin' pups forever. But I was a kid. And I wanted a piece in makin' _sure_ he was gonna be okay.

"We made a pact, then, right there in that room. No matter what happened, we would try to stay out of the kind of trouble that'd forced us into foster care in the first place. Yugi would try to stay safe, and I would get into as much trouble as I wanted, so long as I didn't attract the wrong kind of attention. When we were both of legal age, we'd look each other up and try for a reunion."

Still bracing Yugi within his embrace, the pharaoh Ahtem looked suddenly apologetic. "A pact, for Yugi to remain safe? It seems I owe you a great deal more than I realized."

"Of course not," Kurama gently assured on Yusuke's behalf. "Remember, you've given us your tale already. We know how very diligently you'd strived to protect him."

But Ahtem still looked to Yusuke for forgiveness. The dark youth smirked and nodded.

"The woman that took care of us must've known how hard it would be for us to spilt up," Yugi mused, taking over again. "Just before they came to take Yusuke away, she brought us both into her office. While social services were busy trying to locate my grandfather, they'd given her power of attorney over me. It wasn't hard to see how protective Yusuke had been over me, even if her attention _had_ been split in six different directions at once. She gave us an option that would make the both us feel better about the separation."

"Power of attorney?" Ahtem quietly wondered.

"It's a legal arrangement," Kurama patiently explained for the pharaoh. "One which gives its delegate the authority to act for another in legal and business matters. Usually such cases involve a minor - like Yugi, at the time - or a medically dependent person who cannot make such decisions for himself."

"What was the option?" Toboe asked Yusuke.

"The woman in charge took us aside and asked us how we felt about each other. I liked her, so I told her the truth. That Yugi felt to me like more family than I deserved, and I'd have done anything to make sure he was all right."

"And I told her the same," Yugi nodded. "Yusuke had been to me like a brother. Something I never had, and never wanted to give up."

"So, like Yugi said, she did something that left the both of us feelin' better about the separation. She took down our records and showed us our medical papers. She showed us the contact applications, and then handed us each a pencil and a scrap of paper. If anything happened to either of us, she explained, somebody would be made to contact the other one right away." Yusuke smirked, "All we had to do was write down our names, addresses and phone numbers, and she would take care of the rest."

"I didn't have my grandfather's address as of yet," Yugi added, "but she gave me her word that she would transfer that information onto the records the very moment we found out. In the meantime, I had her permission to use the foster home's address and number in its place."

"And I was being returned home, so I had all the info I needed. We did as she instructed, she copied the stuff down on the records, and then she let us trade the papers so that we could keep in touch. Her only condition was that we didn't tell anyone that she was responsible for the arrangement, to play it like we'd always been each other's contacts."

Yugi smiled at Yusuke. "You must've written to me every week for the first eight months. Even after they finally located my grandfather, you'd written so often that they had to forward the letters to my new address in bulk." His smile grew sad, "But then we started getting older… And things started happening…"

"For the both of us." The dark youth sighed, "I'm sorry, Yugi. I didn't mean to make you think I'd forgotten you or anything. After things finally slowed down for me, you wouldn't believe how often I thought about droppin' you a line. But it'd been a while since I'd heard from you too, so I wondered whether I might be intruding where I didn't belong anymore…"

"Yusuke…" Yugi leaned forth within the circle of Ahtem's embrace, reaching with his hand.

Though his fierce brown eyes bled with the need to respond to such an entreaty, Yusuke first looked to Toboe.

Kurama knew pride in his son, who only gave a small smile before confidently nodding his permission.

Cradling the young wolf against his chest, Yusuke reached past his new lover and caught Yugi's hand in his own.

~o~

Yusuke met those dark violet eyes with his of fierce brown, and he let out another sigh. "I _am_ sorry, Yugi. But I think it's only fair that I fill you in on something. Your pharaoh friend gave us your story. I'd be an ass if I didn't return the favor."

Yugi's expression shifted from the soft glory of a reunion's joy, to the quiet expectation of curiosity about to be fulfilled. He looked to Ahtem, who only smiled and shook his head, indicating that he too had not yet been made privy to the full extent of Yusuke's secret.

"Yusuke," Hiei suddenly spoke up, leaping down from the window's ledge. "We've spent enough time in this fool Kaiba's home. I, for one, would prefer if we could leave as soon as possible. If you insist upon waiting until all is revealed… then at least allow me to assist you."

Both Kurama and Toboe stared as they deciphered the meaning behind the fire demon's offer.

Some life returned to Yusuke's smirk, and the dark youth answered, "Thanks anyway, Hiei, but I know you're still exhausted after last night. I can't ask you to spend whatever energy you've got left for something I could just as easily take care of the old-fashioned way."

"Heh," Hiei scoffed, coming to stand between Yusuke's chair and the sickbed. "I thought you'd learned by now not to underestimate me." He turned with patient eyes to Toboe, silently motioning for the boy's hand. The young wolf gave it without hesitation, letting show his trust in his father's mate. The barest smirk touched Hiei's lips, and he cupped Toboe's fingers below the back of Yusuke's hand. Turning to Ahtem, he wordlessly bade the pharaoh to offer his own hand as well.

"Hiei," Yusuke slowly demanded as he watched the bronzed palm settle over the back of Yugi's hand. "What're you doing?"

"Exactly what you think," the fire demon answered, stretching the fingers and thumb of his hand until he was touching all four clasping hands at once. He reached with his free hand and rested his palm against the side of Yusuke's brow.

"Hiei," Yusuke warned. "No."

The koorime's fiery red eyes turned to him, a piercing gaze that immediately made the dark youth regret he had spoken. "Mutou is not your only extended family. Consider what you hold in your arms; how that connects you to the fox, and to me. And the pharaoh passed up an eternity in paradise to stay at Mutou's side, which tells us that his feelings for Mutou are as strong as your feelings for the cub."

Yusuke flinched, knowing that had he not maintained Hiei's trust and respect for so long he would not have gotten away with a simple reprimand. And the fire demon had a point. It was unfair that Yusuke watched Toboe's story through Hiei's Jagan, while Toboe had yet to learn Yusuke's tale. At the same time, it was vividly clear that Yugi and Ahtem were becoming two sides of the same coin, if they weren't already. Therefore, the pharaoh had as much right to learn the story of Yugi's friend as Yugi himself.

Sighing, Yusuke returned Hiei's look and nodded his agreement.

The fire demon turned to Yugi and Ahtem. "I have the ability to share his mind with you, to allow you to see into his memories. But I should warn you. The first instant will likely burn you." He shifted his gaze, pinning Yugi with it as he added, "The majority of his memories are not pleasant to behold, and were even darker to experience firsthand. I must ask that you brace yourself."

The boy looked from Hiei to Yusuke, and back again. After a long moment, he nodded that he was ready.

Hiei turned his head, fiery red eyes quietly regarding Toboe. "You remember what I first showed you of the fox?"

Toboe nodded.

"Yusuke's memories are just as dark, and there are more of them, packed together with very little breathing space in between."

The young wolf's orange-gold eyes remained steady. "It won't change anything. He knows that."

Yusuke gave a small half-smirk that did not quite reach his eyes.

Kurama wordlessly stepped up behind Hiei and lightly grasped the fire demon's shoulders, bracing him. His mate would be breaching four separate minds at once, and the Jagan was still overcoming the strain it had been put through the night before, just as Yusuke had assumed.

The Jagan flashed behind its ward.

Yusuke swore under his breath, feeling the pull of Hiei's telepathy. Within the next instant Toboe and then Yugi and Ahtem each cringed under the weight of the memories invading their minds…

~o~

Kurama watched them all for several long minutes as Hiei's Jagan dragged them deeper within the sea of shared consciousness. Yusuke was the first to rise again to the surface, dragging in a sharp breath as he blinked his eyes open. Ahtem was not far behind, his kohl-lined fiery amethyst eyes unerringly settling upon Yusuke.

The dark youth had a withdrawn expression on his face, almost apprehensive, and Kurama could certainly understand that. Having someone learn everything about oneself was virtually the equivalent of stripping down all one's defenses and leaving oneself bare before all forms of judgment. Kurama had done that, several weeks before, when revealing himself to Toboe as the wolf cub's father. The red-haired fox silently held his breath, hoping against hope that Yusuke would not be denied the good fortune that had been bestowed upon himself.

But Ahtem simply held Yusuke's gaze and mouthed the words, _You are a better man than I…_

Yugi opened his eyes next, blinking a few times to get the violet orbs to focus. When they had, he looked to Yusuke… and offered a shaky smile.

Kurama silently released the breath he had been holding, just as Toboe finally blinked his eyes open as well. The young demon wolf tilted his head back, very visibly longing for Yusuke's attention. And when the dark youth gave it to him, he let out a soft sob and tugged himself closer against Yusuke's chest. Yusuke released the others' hands, bringing both his arms around his lover's back and shoulders and gently rocking them both forward and back. "I'm here," he could be heard whispering to the cub. "It's all over - far behind me now. It can't hurt me, anymore…"

Hiei finally came back to the present, and Kurama wordlessly steadied him against a backlash of disorientation. _Hiei?_ The fox whispered as he knotted the cloth ward over his lover's brow.

_I'm fine,_ the fire demon grunted. Yet he did not protest when Kurama carefully lifted Hiei up in his arms and returned him to the window's ledge. The redhead captured Hiei's lips against his own in a quick yet lingering kiss, then straightened to observe the others.

Toboe had buried his face into the front of Yusuke's shirt and was quietly weeping. Yusuke cradled the back of the young wolf's head with his hand, still gently rocking. Yugi had leaned back against Ahtem's chest, and the former pharaoh had pulled the boy into the security of his embrace.

"So," Yugi softly broke the silence, his young voice gruff and emotional. He looked to Ahtem, and then shifted his gaze to Yusuke. "What happens now?"

"Do you still live with your grandfather?" Kurama wondered.

Yugi shook his head; "I went into business with Duke Devlin, another old friend of mine. I'd actually originally come to Kaiba's to settle a deal, when I suddenly started getting the migraines." (Ahtem wordlessly tugged him closer, resting his chin atop the boy's tri-spiked head.) "I like to travel, so I took a position in Duke's business that allowed me to pack up and go at a moment's notice. And the benefits are great."

The redhead nodded, thoughtful. "Would those benefits include allowing a sudden change of address, three cities east of this one?"

He blinked, stammering, "I… W-why?"

"Yugi," Yusuke spoke, looking up to meet the boy's gaze, though his hand still cradled the back of his lover's head. "You know you're like family to me. Everyone else in this room - they're family, too. And I don't intend to leave a single member of this family behind."

Toboe suddenly shifted, slowly lifting his head away from Yusuke's shirtfront to look up at the demon he had secretly dubbed as the _dark storm_. His orange-amber eyes, still glistening with lingering tears, were both compassionate and pleading. "What about the pharaoh? Yugi _needs_ him, Yusuke. Like you need me."

"I know," the dark youth gently agreed, smiling down at the effeminate wolf demon. "Don't worry. I'm not about to let them be separated again."

Ahtem lifted his head, and it was obvious by the look in his kohl-lined eyes that he had not expected to be included. But Yusuke only gave a slow smirk. And with that, their family became whole.


	11. Epilogue -- His Mate

**Title:** Desperate Darkness

**By:** Aina Song

**Fandom(s):** Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Genre:** Yaoi

**Rating:** PG-15

**Warning(s):** Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

**Pairing(s):** Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

**Reviews:** Yes, please.

**Author's Note:** Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. _Italics_ = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

**Teaser:** Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

**Epilogue - His Mate**

Several weeks later found Yugi and Ahtem waiting anxiously in Yusuke's living room. Kurama and Hiei were standing back-to-back in the middle of the floor - eyes shut, brows beading with perspiration, both visibly trembling under the strained force of their concentration. Kurama was maintaining a powerful shield of energy over the whole of the apartment, while inside its bubble Hiei had erected a thicker, more potent shield around Yusuke's room.

Ahtem, who had once borrowed Yusuke's strength in substitution for his own, could just vaguely sense the power of these two. It was both foreign and familiar, almost on par with that of the Egyptian gods - and that was saying something.

For a solid eighty minutes, they waited - tense, expectant, and even a little fearful that something could have gone wrong. But then Hiei dropped forward, falling to his hands and knees in exhaustion at the same moment that Kurama sank to his own knee with an almost inaudible groan.

Yugi and Ahtem quickly sat up as they heard a door open and footsteps approach from the hallway.

Yusuke was the first to enter the living room, slowly and cautiously, evidence that his own energy had been expended as well. He was in his full demon form, his long and wild hair falling into his eyes - eyes that had gone black with the lingering pulses of raw power. He caught his clawed hand to the wall as though he needed the support, and yet he stood strongly as he looked up and gave the others a slow smirk.

Half a heartbeat passed before another entered the room. Wearing only his favorite pair of green military slacks, coppery red hair falling into eyes of orange amber, Toboe seemed to hesitate with every step, as though fearful he might stumble. And yet, as he looked up to find them all staring, he offered a small smile that was both tremulous and triumphant.

His torso was bare. The bandages had finally been removed, revealing a vivid red scar where once had been a fresh bullet wound. And there, upon the pale flesh of his shoulder, just beside the curve of his neck… two tiny puncture wounds, surrounded by a fresh and raw-pink scar that resembled the crude outline of a phoenix in flight.

Yugi and Ahtem cheered, Kurama let out a relieved sigh, and even Hiei gave a small smirk of celebrated approval. Yusuke shared a slow smile with Toboe as the young wolf stepped easily within the secure cage of his arms.

Toboe now bore the dark storm's mark. Yusuke's lover had at last become his mate.

**The End**


End file.
